Outside post a plus for Lady Scarlet

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – An outside draw and the potential for a wet track could give Lady Scarlet a slight edge in a seemingly wide-open renewal of Saturday’s $100,000 Cicada Stakes at Aqueduct.

The Cicada, for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs, tops a 10-race card that has 110 entries, making for some intriguing wagering opportunities.

The Cicada drew only a field of six, but there is nary a standout nor throwout in the field.

Lady Scarlet was claimed by Mike Maker for $150,000 on behalf of Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher last Nov. 21 at Churchill Downs. Lady Scarlet won that high-priced maiden claimer in which she broke from the outside in an eight-horse field.

Sent to Oaklawn Park, Lady Scarlet finished fifth in her first start against winners, dueling with two others from an inside draw before weakening late. She came back on Feb. 26 to win a money allowance by taking advantage of her outside position.

“She stalked a hot pace, had a little bit of a wide trip and seemed to hang on,” said Maker, who has two wins and two seconds from his last four stakes starter at this meet. “She deserves a chance.”

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Lady Scarlet is drawn on the outside and has Kendrick Carmouche aboard. Both of Lady Scarlet’s wins have come over wet tracks and there is some rain forecast for Saturday.

The majority of this field has had its success on the front end. Monshun displayed strong early speed in a good-looking debut win last Aug. 18 at Saratoga, winning by 3 1/4 lengths. Morning Matcha, second to Monshun that day and not in this field, has come back to win three races, including the Main Line Stakes at Parx. The rest of the horses Monshun beat in her debut are 2 for 21 since then.

Monshun was sidelined due to an ankle chip and was pointing to an allowance race that didn’t fill, according to trainer Ray Handal, who has liked the way Monshun has been training leading to her return.

Dylan Davis rides Monshun from post 5.

Lady Milagro has had a busy winter racing four times since Dec. 18. She is coming off a front-running, 7 1/4-length maiden score on Feb. 24 that might have been bias-aided. Trainer Carlos Martin believes his filly could be the fastest of the early speed types, but “if she ends up laying second, that wouldn’t be the end of the world,” Martin said.

Rosebug is turning back to a sprint after finishing fourth behind Magic Circle in the Busanda Stakes. This is Plan C for this filly as she had to scratch out of a stakes at Parx due to a quarantine issue on March 8 and was also pointing to the same allowance as Monshun. She did show the ability to sit off the pace winning a seven-furlong maiden race over a sloppy track on Dec. 30.

Exxaltress and Sweet Solare are both coming off maiden victories in their second career starts.