Since 2022, Butch Reid has shipped seven horses to Aqueduct for stakes victories, but that recent string of success has not come with a breakthrough in juvenile company. The Parx-based trainer hopes to end the streak with Parker Boone on Saturday in the $500,000 Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Series. “It’s a race we’ve been looking for since he came into the barn in about June,” Reid said. “I almost won one of these races a few years back, and it’s a big, fat pot, so you can make the horse’s whole year with one of them.” Reid has not shipped a juvenile for the New York Stallion Series since 2021, when Morning Matcha finished second in the $500,000 Fifth Avenue Division. His last juvenile stakes victory at Aqueduct came in 2018, when Maximus Mischief won the Grade 2 Remsen. Parker Boone’s debut might have been delayed to November, but he certainly made the wait worthwhile when he scored a dominant 12 1/4-length victory in a maiden special weight at Parx. He will now stretch out to seven furlongs, and though the competition should be more resilient at Aqueduct, his 77 Beyer Speed Figure last time out stands tall in the deep field of 14 with two also-eligibles. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “He’s been coming along,” Reid said. “He’s been a very precocious horse from day one. He’s a big, powerfully built horse and he showed ability, so we had a pretty good inkling he was going to run pretty good first time out there. He came out of it great. We couldn’t ask for him to be doing any better.” Froutien, a colt trained by Todd Pletcher, is looking for a bounce-back effort after a 26-length defeat in the $200,000 Sleepy Hollow last month. Pletcher is adding blinkers and cutting him back to the distance he ran in his maiden victory in September. Many of the other notable local runners will switch from turf to dirt in the Great White Way, as several trainers seem tempted to take a shot on an unfamiliar surface for a $500,000 purse. Spirit of New York, winner of the $150,000 Bertram F. Bongard in September, has run on the grass in each of his first four starts for trainer Adam Rice. He will make his debut on dirt after a 1 1/4-length defeat in the $125,000 Notebook. Chummers, the sixth-place finisher in that race, will also switch surfaces for Ray Handal. Fifth Avenue Surface-switching seems to be a trend in the New York Stallion Series at Aqueduct on Saturday, as George Weaver will give two juvenile fillies their first tries on dirt in the $500,000 Fifth Avenue division. “Well, it’s a $500,000 race,” Weaver said. “We’ve got two fillies that are doing well, so they’re gonna go over there and run. We’ll find out how much they like the dirt.” After winning the $125,000 Key Cents in a six-horse blanket finish last month, She’s Country will try to kickstart a winning streak on dirt. Her stablemate, Fancy Lights, finished fourth by three-quarters of a length in that race and will try to turn the tables on a new surface. If distance has any bearing on their performances Saturday, Fancy Lights could hold a slight advantage over She’s Country, who will run seven furlongs for the first time. Fancy Lights ran in three straight turf sprints to begin her career before Weaver stretched her out to a mile in the Key Cents. Weaver considered She’s Country for turf routes from the very beginning, debuting her at 1 1/16 miles in August. She won that debut by six lengths under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who will return to ride her Saturday. While Weaver takes two shots at the $500,000 purse, trainer Chad Summers likes his chances with Daniella Marie in the 12 post. Named after owner Roddy Valente’s daughter, the Honest Mischief filly is coming off a 9 1/4-length maiden victory on Nov. 14, in which she dramatically improved in her second front-running start. “Very special horse for a great client in Roddy Valente,” Summers said. “We went down to the [Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s] June sale and we found her over there. We bought her knowing that she was Stallion Series-eligible, knowing that this is a big $500,000 race to target in December. It’s not all the time that things come to fruition, but since the day we got her, everything has been with this race in mind.” Oh, undefeated in two starts for Mike Maker, drew the rail in the deep field and should be prominent early. The filly has not run since Sept. 22, when she shipped to Finger Lakes and won the $116,000 Lady Finger by a half-length with a field-topping 73 Beyer Speed Figure. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.