May Day Ready hopes to find winning form in Lake Placid
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Arguably the top North American juvenile turf filly of 2024, May Day Ready has not yet found her stride as a 3-year-old. With two races under her belt and in a field where she is the lone graded stakes winner, May Day Ready could get back on course in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Lake Placid Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga.
A multiple stakes winner and runner-up to the European-based Lake Victoria in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at 2, May Day Ready is 0 for 2 this year. She did not debut until the Grade 3 Wonder Again on June 6, a race that came off the turf and scratched down to three horses. Over a sloppy track, May Day Ready was last of three, beaten 25 lengths by Nitrogen.
May Day Ready got back on turf in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks at 1 1/8 miles. She leapt up at the break and was last early, ultimately finishing fourth, beaten four lengths by Fionn and Nitrogen, who were noses apart at the wire after running a course-record time of 1:44.84.
“I honestly think she didn’t get much out of the Wonder Again,” said Joe Lee, who trains May Day Ready for KatieRich Stables. “I think the Belmont Oaks was her first race of the year. I think that she got something out of that and hopefully with the works we’ve had in between that, we’re ready to go.”
One of those works was a half-mile in 46.70 seconds over the Oklahoma turf course on Aug. 10.
The Lake Placid offers May Day Ready a chance to run at one mile on turf for the first time since last year. She won the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies and was second in the Breeders’ Cup at one mile. Jose Ortiz will ride May Day Ready for the first time, replacing Franke Dettori.
Chad Brown has won four straight and six of the last eight runnings of the Lake Placid. Typically, he has multiple runners in this race, but Saturday he will go with just Play With Fire, a filly he sent out to a runner-up finish in the Wild Applause Stakes on July 3. That was her first start for Brown after a private purchase by Randy and Larry Sarf’s LSU Stables.
Play With Fire had good pace in which to close in the Wild Applause. There does not seem to be much pace in the Lake Placid.
“She’s just going to have to run her race,” Brown said. “Maybe with lack of pace, she’ll be a little bit closer.”
When trained by Brendan Walsh, Play With Fire won the one-mile Hilltop at Pimlico.
Eponine comes over from France following a private purchase by Mike Repole. Though she will run under trainer Phillippe Sogorb’s name on Saturday, she will be transferred to Todd Pletcher.
Eponine raced close to the pace when second in the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham on June 1 at Chantilly. She also was close in the listed Prix de Bagatelle, where she backed up to sixth in the seven-horse field. Eponine gets the services of meet-leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr.
Reining Flowers won a maiden race here last year and finished a close third in two stakes at Saratoga. Warming won an allowance at Delaware before finishing fifth in the Belmont Oaks. Scarlet Sands has won three in a row but not at this level.
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