Lake Avenue possible for Distaff Handicap

Since Lake Avenue seems to flourish at Aqueduct, trainer Bill Mott is likely to give the royally bred 4-year-old filly one more start here this spring, perhaps in the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff Handicap on April 2.

“If she would fit in that race there, I would probably prefer that,” Mott said Sunday from Florida.

Lake Avenue ran her record at Aqueduct to 3 for 4 with a convincing 6 3/4-length score in Saturday’s $125,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational. At age 2, Lake Avenue won a maiden race and the Grade 2 Demoiselle at Aqueduct.

“There’s been a couple of tracks she hasn’t run well over and I can’t answer if it was because she didn’t like the racetrack or didn’t like something else,” Mott said. “She must like the big city environment. She likes the Big Apple.”

Lake Avenue, a daughter of Grade 1 winners Tapit and Seventh Street, earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure for her Heavenly Prize victory. That was the same figure she earned for her allowance win at Gulfstream on Feb. 3.