'Proxy' faces first stiff test

JAMAICA, N.Y. - The promising Proxy Statement, undefeated in two starts, gets her first important test in Saturday's $200,000 Demoiselle at Aqueduct.

The waters get significantly deeper for Proxy Statement, who makes her stakes debut and her first start around two turns while facing seven other 2-year-old fillies in the Grade 2 Demoiselle.

In her career debut on Oct. 14, Proxy Statement came from off the pace to win a mile maiden race by a half-length at Belmont Park. She destroyed a field of allowance runners in her next start, also at a mile, when she powered home a seven-length winner at Aqueduct on Nov. 8.

Her trainer, Shug McGaughey, said Proxy Statement, a daughter of A.P. Indy, should relish stretching out in the 1 1/8-mile Demoiselle.

"My idea was to run her in her last race and come back in here if she ran well," McGaughey said. "It's back a little quick, but I was really pleased with that race. When [John Velazquez] asked her, she really took off. I think the experience from her first race showed in the second, plus she was a little tighter."

Pat Day replaces John Velazquez, who opted to ride Smok'n Frolic. Proxy Statement drew post 7.

Proxy Statement concedes seasoning to several fillies in the Demoiselle, including two-turn winners Blissful Kiss, a stakes winner from Florida, and Lady Shari, the winner of the Grade 1 Mazarine at Woodbine in September.

Smok'n Frolic, a 6 1/4-length winner of the one-mile Tempted at Belmont on Oct. 28, lost her only start around two turns when finishing fifth in the 1 1/16-mile Alcibiades at Keeneland earlier in October. Trainer Todd Pletcher said the loss had more to do with Smok'n Frolic's trip than the distance.

"She handled the distance, but the biggest thing was she was five or six wide around both turns and it's difficult to be successful at Keeneland if you're not closer to the rail," Pletcher said. "The pace will dictate where she will be in the race. She has enough tactile speed to be placed in a good position."

Trainer Mark Hennig stretches out Wopping, the Tempted's third-place finisher, so he can get an idea what the filly's future holds.

"It's good to get horses started around two turns early to find out if they are that type of horse later on," Hennig said. "I don't know about the distance, but she has struck us as a filly who could handle it because she gallops out strongly in her works."