Redrawn Haynesfield Stakes adds two runners
If you don’t like the weather this winter, just wait a minute. After an Arctic blast of subzero wind chills shuttered Aqueduct’s live racing last Saturday and Sunday, temperatures will warm into the 50s this weekend, so all systems are go for Sunday’s stakes twin bill of the Broadway and Haynesfield, a pair of $100,000 events for New York-breds that were originally scheduled for last Saturday.
The 37th running of the Broadway for fillies and mares is carded as race 5, while the inaugural Haynesfield for older males is race 8 on a nine-race program.
Both races were redrawn Thursday. The six-furlong Broadway reshuffles the same sextet that entered the first time. The 1 1/16-mile Haynesfield picked up two new shooters in Eye Luv Lulu, who is right back after a runner-up finish Monday in the Hollie Hughes Stakes, and Full of Mine, who finished third in an allowance race Thursday.
It’s difficult to say who will be favored in the Broadway. Blithely, Court Dancer, and Willet were separated by less than a length when they met last month, and Tricky Zippy beat all of them last year.
The Broadway field also includes Make the Moment, a four-time winner on the inner dirt, and Myfourchix, the winner of the Seeking the Ante at 2 and third most recently behind Clothes Fall Off, who set a track record for 5 1/2 furlongs.
The field for the Haynesfield has swelled to nine and still boils down to Royal Posse and Saratoga Snacks, who were noses apart in last year’s Evan Shipman Stakes at Saratoga.
Royal Posse, claimed for a mere $20,000 last spring, has won or placed in six starts for Rudy Rodriguez, including wins in the Evan Shipman and the Claiming Crown Jewel and a second-place finish in the Empire Classic.
Potential pacesetter Saratoga Snacks had post 7 originally and got the rail this time.
Rodriguez also entered three-time stakes winner Good Luck Gus.
Broadway Stakes, Race 5
KEY CONTENDERS
Willet, by Jump Start
Last 3 Beyers: 85-90-77
◗ A veteran mare with a bankroll exceeding $800,000, she makes her 30th and perhaps final start for Jimmy Iselin. Her five stakes wins include the Interborough on the inner track, where she has never been worse than second in five outings.
Tricky Zippy, by City Zip
Last 3 Beyers: 86-88-81
◗ She has been freshened after a busy 3-year-old season that included five wins and a runner-up finish in the Iroquois behind Eclipse Award winner La Verdad.
Haynesfield Stakes, Race 8
Royal Posse, by Posse
Last 3 Beyers: 96-95-92
◗ Although winless from five starts on the inner track, he earned a career-best Beyer Figure of 96 when second in last month’s Jazil Stakes behind Majestic Affair, subsequently second in the General George.
Saratoga Snacks, by Tale of the Cat
Last 3 Beyers: 87-76-91
◗ He boasts exacta finishes in all five starts on the inner track, beginning with a victory in the 2012 Alex M. Robb.