Statue of Liberty a wide-open affair
Rewrite and J'ray may be the leading 3-year-old New York-bred turf fillies in training. But as offspring of Kentucky-based stallions, neither is eligible for Thursday's $150,000 Statue of Liberty Stakes, restricted to 3-year-old daughters of New York-based stallions.
That makes for a fairly wide-open feature Thursday at Saratoga. This is the fourth running of the Statue of Liberty, the first on turf. Less than half the field owns a win on the grass, and none of the 13 entrants has won at the race's 1 1/8-mile distance.
, a daughter of Freud, may rate a slight edge in the Statue of Liberty. Last summer here, she won her turf debut and finished second in the Phil Johnson Stakes. After two losses on dirt, My Interpretation began her 3-year-old year with a fourth-place finish to J'Ray in the Tropical Park Oaks at Calder on New Year's Day.
Following a 5 1/2-month layoff, which trainer John Kimmel said was by design, My Interpretation finished second behind Rewrite, who was in the middle of a three-race winning streak.
"I think her effort was good," said Kimmel. "I think she'll improve a lot off the effort. She should be sitting on a good performance. She breezed absolutely beautiful on the grass the last two times, and she should be sitting on a green light right now."
My Interpretation will break from post 8 under Richard Migliore.
One of Kimmel's main owners, Chester and Mary Broman, will be his main rival in the Statue of Liberty. The Bromans own Artistic Express, a stakes winner on dirt at 2 who in June won a statebred second-level allowance on turf by 7 3-4 lengths. While that race answered her ability to handle turf, distance remains a question.
"Obviously, she likes running on the grass a lot," trainer Mike Hernandez said. "We're hoping she can go the distance. She's never won a race longer than seven furlongs."
will break from post 10.
won two stallion stakes on dirt earlier in the year. She made her turf debut in the Grade 3 Boiling Springs at Monmouth Park and finished last of eight. If one of those famous Saratoga thunderstorms forces the race to the dirt, No Reason becomes the one to beat.
is winless in two starts, both on turf, but she did finish second to Rewrite in a May 5 maiden race. Breaking from post 2 under Mike Luzzi, she should be able to save ground.