Patiently handled Juju's Map ready to give her best in Mother Goose
ELMONT, N.Y. – Short or long, one turn or two, trainer Brad Cox seems to have it covered in the 3-year-old filly division.
Two weeks after Cox sent out Matareya to win the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes, a one-turn mile race here, Cox brings Juju’s Map from Kentucky to Belmont Park for Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes as the Grade 1 winner from a year ago returns to stakes company.
Juju’s Map, who beat Matareya in the Grade 1 Alcibiades last fall at Keeneland, looks very much the horse to beat in the Mother Goose, a one-turn, 1 1/16-mile race that drew a five-horse field.
Juju’s Map ended her 2-year-old campaign with a runner-up finish to Echo Zulu in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita. She did not return to the work tab until March, and she was not rushed to make any of the spring stakes leading to the Kentucky Oaks. Instead, Juju’s Map ran in a second-level allowance on Oaks Day, a race she won by 4 3/4 lengths. Cox had thought about running Juju’s Map in the Grade 2 Eight Belles, a seven-furlong race on the same card, but opted against. He won that race with Matareya.
“I didn’t think seven-eighths is what she wants to do, she’s a mile and beyond, probably prefers two turns,” Cox said. “I though the allowance against the olders made sense. If she’s as good as I’m hoping she’d be as a 3-year-old she ought to handle the older horses and she did.”
Though Juju’s Map could have been considered for the Acorn here on June 11, Cox decided to just go with Matareya, who won that race easily after the late scratch of heavily favored Echo Zulu due to lameness.
“If we see what we’re hoping to see, hopefully we’ll get her back into Grade 1 company,” Cox said.
Florent Geroux rides Juju’s Map from post 5.
Shahama won her first four starts for trainer Nass Fawzi in Dubai. Transferred to Todd Pletcher during the winter, Shahama finished sixth in the Kentucky Oaks, a race in which she raced in the back of the pack for the opening six furlongs before closing to get beat 5 1/2 lengths by Secret Oath.
“I thought she ran sneaky okay, just kind of kept closing a little bit,” said Pletcher, a six-time Mother Goose winner. “To no one’s fault, she got shuffled back to the point where she had too much to do turning for home. If you watch, she kept closing. She was still gaining ground at the end, just ran out of time.”
Flavien Prat rides Shahama from the rail.
Venti Valentine looks to bounce back from a last-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks after running second in the Grade 2 Gazelle at Aqueduct. She is 2 for 2 at Belmont, both wins against New York-bred competition.
Gerrymander won the Tempted and was second to Echo Zulu in the Grade 1 Frizette at 2. In her lone start this year, she finished sixth in the Eight Belles.
Midnight Stroll, winner of a small stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in March, completes the field.
Breeze Easy faces Brown trio
Breeze Easy, beaten a neck in the Grade 3 Soaring Softly Stakes, will take on a trio of Chad Brown trainees plus one more in the $100,000 Wild Applause Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going a mile over the Widener turf course.
In the Soaring Softly, Breeze Easy was making her first start in six months and first for trainer Christophe Clement. After sitting a close-up fourth, Breeze Easy tipped three wide for the stretch but was outfinished by Chardy Party. Breeze Easy was beaten a neck while finishing a neck in front of Sail By.
“I thought she ran very well, it’s back a bit quick, but why not?” Clement said.
This mile race will be Breeze Easy’s first start beyond seven furlongs.
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“I’m not sure,” Clement said about the distance. “We’ll find out.”
Brown’s trio are Eminent Victor, Lakota Spirit, and Oakhurst.
Eminent Victor is making her first start since a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Natalma last September at Woodbine. That was her first start for Brown after being purchased privately by a group led by Mike Dubb and Michael Caruso.
Brown is taking blinkers off Eminent Victor for this race.
Lakota Spirit, from the family of the multiple Grade 1 winner Rushing Fall, is coming off a maiden victory on turf in her first start on that surface.
Oakhurst, a daughter of Mr Speaker, has won her last two, both coming on Lasix, medication she will not be permitted to use Saturday.
Al Qahira, trained by Bill Mott, looms the lone speed in the race.
The Wild Applause is carded as race 5.