Personal Ensign or Ballerina next for My Miss Aurelia

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – My Miss Aurelia exited her third-place finish in Monday’s Shine Again Stakes none the worse for wear despite a pretty good bumping match nearing midstretch with runner-up Grace Hall, and she could make her next start later in the meet either in the Personal Ensign or Ballerina.

My Miss Aurelia, a three-time Grade 1 winner, was making her first start in the seven-furlong Shine Again since finishing a tiring third in the Grade 3 Azeri at Oaklawn Park 16 months earlier. It was also her first start since being transferred to trainer Todd Pletcher, who said Tuesday he was pleased with her effort.

“Considering the length of the layoff and with her training scheduled being interrupted at times, I thought she really ran well,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher said that My Miss Aurelia “got forced to run every step of the way” and then got tired and lugged in while trying to change leads under jockey John Velazquez.

“She simply got tired, but all and all she showed she still has running on her mind,” he said.

Another new addition to the Pletcher barn, Protonico, could prove a major player in Friday’s Curlin Stakes. Protonico, a well-bred son of Giant’s Causeway, joined the Pletcher stable earlier this season and won at first asking for him. Making his third start, Protonico rallied to a two-length entry-level allowance win going a mile at Belmont Park on June 25.

“That was a very competitive one-other-than at Belmont and I thought he ran very well there,” Pletcher said. “The Curlin drew a pretty good group of horses for a restricted stakes, and we’ll learn a lot about what we have after this race. I’m not really thinking Travers with a horse who was a little late coming along, but if he were to run well on Friday, we’d have to consider it.”