Miss Da Point tries to continue improvement

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Previously viewed as a horse with an affinity for Aqueduct’s inner oval, it turns out that Miss Da Point is more than a one-track filly.

Miss Da Point has won her last two starts over Aqueduct’s main track and will go for her third straight win over that surface in Friday’s $62,000 third-level allowance feature for New York-bred fillies and mares going one mile.

Essentially, Miss Da Point is facing the same group she beat by 3 1/4 lengths going a mile last time, with two new faces – Hundred Acre Wood and Clean Jean – in the mix. On Dec. 5, Miss Da Point also won a six-furlong race over the main track.

At one point, Miss Da Point was 4 for 5 over the inner track, including a victory in the Judy Soda Stakes on Dec. 26, before losing her last two starts over that surface. She rebounded with a solid victory over a muddy main track March 31.

“She fooled everybody,” said John Toscano, the trainer of Miss Da Point. “She never ran good out of the chute before. I think she’s just turned the corner. She’s probably one of the best distance New York-bred fillies around.”

Toscano believes Miss Da Point, a 4-year-old daughter of Strong Contender, has improved with age and maturity. To support that belief, Toscano notes that Miss Da Point’s last win came in the mud, a surface on which she previously ran poorly.

“She never ran any good on the mud prior to that,” Toscano said. “She’s such an improving filly, she overcame it.”

The only negative Toscano sees for Friday is that Miss Da Point now carries 123 pounds, spotting 3 to 5 pounds to her rivals.

Though the entry of Carameaway and Dreaming of Cara ran second and third behind Miss Da Point on March 31, it is possible that the fourth-place finisher, Royal Suspicion, had the biggest excuse that day. Breaking from the rail, Royal Suspicion turned her head when the gate opened and broke slowly, spotting the rest of the field several lengths.

Royal Suspicion was then steadied and shuffled back to last down the backstretch and had to go five to six wide in the stretch. She finished fourth, beaten 6 3/4 lengths.

“She’s not the kind to come from that far back,” said Jim Ryerson, the trainer of Royal Suspicion. “I thought she ran pretty well considering that happened.”

Royal Suspicion breaks from the rail again Saturday. Back in August, Royal Suspicion stumbled when breaking from the rail in a starter-allowance race at Parx. Ryerson said her two bad starts from the rail are just a “coincidence.”

In 2012, Clean Jean won 10 races, tying her with Saginaw for the most wins by a U.S.-based Thoroughbred. Last year, she won three races, including her last start, which came going 1 1/16 miles at Finger Lakes on Dec. 9.

Both Clean Jean and Hundred Acre Wood are being offered for the optional-claiming price of $75,000.