Saguaro Row fitter for Interborough

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Coming off a 10-month layoff and running over a deep Aqueduct main track conspired against Saguaro Row when she finished fourth in the Garland of Roses Stakes here last month.

With that race under her belt and three solid workouts at the Fair Hill Training Center in the interim, Saguaro Row figures to be fitter and better when she runs in Monday’s $100,000 Interborough Stakes at Aqueduct.

The Interborough, a race Saguaro Row won handily last year, is the feature on an eight-race Martin Luther King Jr. holiday program that begins at 12:50 p.m.

Saguaro Row raced 10 times from April 2019 to February 2020, when trainer Mike Stidham decided to put her away for the summer and point to a 2020-21 winter campaign. He chose to bring her back in the Garland of Roses, thinking a race might do her better than continually working the filly for her return.

In the Garland of Roses, she basically raced fourth all the way around the track, chasing a quick pace and never really making much of an impact, ultimately beaten five lengths by Honor Way.

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“Going into it we knew we were maybe a work or two away from being as good as we can be, but the timing was going to be more beneficial to her. I think the track and our lack of fitness caused her not to run as well,” Stidham said. ”She’s had a couple of really good works, and it looks like she’s on top of her game and ready to go.”

Trevor McCarthy rides Saguaro Row from post 2.

Portal Creek is the horse to catch and beat in the Interborough.

Since coming to the barn of trainer Juan Carlos Guerrero last summer, Portal Creek has three wins and a narrow loss in the Grade 3 Go for Wand Handicap in five starts.

In the Go for Wand, Portal Creek was on the lead while being stalked by Sharp Starr before succumbing to that one late. Portal Creek was 12 lengths clear of the third-place finisher Nonna Madeline.

“I don’t think she broke as well as she had, and he had to hustle her up there because we wanted to be on the lead,” Guerrero said. “If she broke a little better I think she would have won it.”

Guerrero said his biggest concern is taking Portal Creek off Lasix, the anti-bleeding medication that is banned from being given within 48 hours of race day.

“Hopefully, we’ll be okay,” Guerrero said.

Kendrick Carmouche rides Portal Creek from post 6.

Needs Supervision cuts back in distance after finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Allaire du Pont Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on Dec. 26 at Laurel.

Alisio, who is 3 for 4 over Aqueduct’s main track, finished last in the Primoneta Stakes on Nov. 28 at Laurel off an 11-month layoff.

Belle Aurora is winless in five starts since taking the Gin Talking Stakes in 2019. She scratched out of Saturday’s What a Summer Stakes presumably to run in this spot.

Call On Mischief makes her first start off the Kelly Breen claim. She showed speed at Monmouth sprinting in the summer.