Scratch leaves La Verdad wide open

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Satisfy would likely have been the favorite for Saturday’s $100,000 La Verdad Stakes at Aqueduct, but filling in an ankle will force her to scratch, according to trainer Bill Mott, making for a wide-open running of the seven-furlong race for New York-bred females.

The La Verdad will likely now center on Pauseforthecause and Byself, who finished first and second in a first-level allowance race here on Dec. 8.

Pauseforthecause, who got away slowly and came widest of all in the stretch that day, has won three of her last four starts, since undergoing a throat procedure. Her lone defeat was a one-length loss to Highway Star in the Iroquois Stakes at Belmont on Oct. 20.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin credited his former assistant Stu Hampson with the idea of performing tie-back surgery on Pauseforthecause following her eighth-place finish in a turf allowance at Saratoga on July 20. Pauseforthecause returned to dirt thereafter and won her two statebred allowance conditions by a combined 11 1/2 lengths.

“We did it, it worked, and back on the dirt worked, too,” McLaughlin said Thursday from Florida. “She’s been great ever since. We’re looking forward to this race.”

McLaughlin is particularly pleased that Pauseforthecause has the outside post. She got away slowly in her last two starts when breaking from the rail.

Rain is in the forecast for Saturday, but McLaughlin doesn’t believe a wet track should hamper Pauseforthecause.

Byself, the last winner trained by Rick Violette before his death in November, finished with interest in her one-length loss to Pauseforthecause in that Dec. 8 race. That race was at six furlongs, this one is at seven – the distance of a second-level allowance win by Byself on Oct. 14.

Palladian Bridge finished second in last year’s La Verdad at 11-1. She has shown an affinity for Aqueduct and a wet track.

“She is training as good as she could ever train,” trainer Ray Handal said. “I don’t know if it’s Aqueduct or she likes the cooler temperatures, but she seems like the filly that ran the big second in this race last year and then came back to win.”

Following last year’s La Verdad, Palladian Bridge won an allowance race by 8 1/2 lengths in the slop.

Trainer Chad Brown has the uncoupled entry of Kathryn the Wise and Sunset Ridge. Both were stakes winners in their prime, but both missed more than year to injury and have not yet returned to form.

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KEY CONTENDERS

Pauseforthecause, by Giant’s Causeway
Last 3 Beyers: 88-88-81

◗ In the best form of her career.

Byself, by Noble Causeway
Last 3 Beyers: 87-78-75

◗ Never worse than second in six dirt starts and has a win and a second at the distance.

Palladian Bridge, by Girolamo
Last 3 Beyers: 78-82-57

◗ Her chances move up significantly if the track is wet, as her last two victories have come over a sloppy Aqueduct main track.

◗ Had a solid campaign last winter here with two wins sandwiched around a second in this race.