My Miss Aurelia rejoins top-shelf talent for Ballerina
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The connections of My Miss Aurelia have waited a long time to get their champion filly back to Grade 1 company. The wait ends Saturday, when My Miss Aurelia, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2011, starts in the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga.
The Ballerina, run at seven furlongs, is a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, to be run at Santa Anita this fall.
My Miss Aurelia has only made two starts in the last 18 months, a period in which she suffered from foot issues and other infirmities. She returned from a 16-month layoff to run third in a roughly run, highly competitive Shine Again Stakes here July 21.
Since then, trainer Todd Pletcher has seen My Miss Aurelia flourish in her training, most recently breezing head-and-head with the multiple graded stakes-winning male Palace Malice.
“I think My Miss Aurelia should benefit from the race that she had,” said Pletcher, who trains My Miss Aurelia for Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stable. “I thought her last breeze in particular with Palace Malice was as good as we’ve seen from her, and her gallop-out was particularly good. I think the race has moved her forward.”
She will need to be at the top of her game in this field, which includes Better Lucky, who won the Shine Again in her first start on dirt in more than two years. In the interim, Better Lucky became a multiple Grade 1 winner on turf.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 4 My Miss Aurelia. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 6 for 24 with a $7.74 ROI over the past two years in dirt Grade 1 stakes with horses making their second start following a layoff.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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“I always felt it was more distance than surface because she’s actually good at seven-eighths to a mile, and anything over a mile she seems to struggle,” trainer Tom Albertrani said.
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Better Lucky was the beneficiary of a rapid early pace when she rallied from 12 lengths back in the four-horse Shine Again. It remains to be seen whether that same scenario develops in the Ballerina, though La Verdad, Artemis Agrotera, and Voodoo Tales like to be forwardly placed.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Better Lucky. Trainer Tom Albertrani is 3 for 50 with a $0.58 ROI over the past five years in graded stakes following a winning effort.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
“I’d like to still see her finish as strong as she did last time and maybe not be so far back,” Albertrani said. “She’s in great form. I’m just going by she looks great coming into the race.”
New York-breds Hot Stones and Willet are two horses who could be primed for top efforts. Hot Stones won the seven-furlong Bed o’ Roses at Belmont before finishing third in the Shuvee at 1 1/8 miles. Willet won a New York-bred allowance going six furlongs here July 30 and now tries to win her first graded stakes.
La Verdad, fifth with trouble as the favorite in the Honorable Miss, Kipling’s Joy, and Geeky Gorgeous complete the field.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 La Verdad. Trainer Linda Rice is 4 for 11 with a $6.21 ROI over the past five years with horses going from route to sprint on dirt after a winning effort.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Ballerina Stakes, Race 11
KEY CONTENDERS
My Miss Aurelia
(Last 3 Beyers: 91-86-85)
◗ She suffered her first loss at Saratoga when third in the Shine Again in a roughly run race. She finally gets to have a second race of a form cycle. In such instances, she won the Grade 2 Adirondack, Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, and Grade 1 Cotillion.
Better Lucky (Last 3 Beyers: 92-91-90)
◗ Avoided trouble when rallying from well off the pace to beat millionaires Grace Hall and My Miss Aurelia in the Shine Again in her first start on dirt in 15 months.
DRF Formulator Fact: Albertrani is 0 for 14 over the last five years in graded dirt stakes at Saratoga.
Hot Stones (Last 3 Beyers: 95-96-93)
◗ Earned her two best career Beyer Speed Figures since the addition of blinkers two starts back.
DRF Formulator Fact: Trainer Bruce Levine is 0 for 9 in graded stakes races at Saratoga dating back to 1992.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Artemis Agrotera. Trainer Mike Hushion is 5 for 39 with a $0.92 ROI over the past five years in graded stakes following a winning effort.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan