Sunday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Fancy Feline’s last race better than appears
Aqueduct | Race 6 | Post Time 4:00 p.m. (ET)
TimeformUS PPs are now available on DRF.com. Go to PPs
Try It Again (#5) figures to finally get some respect as the potential favorite in this New York-bred allowance. She’s run two of the best races of her career in both starts since getting claimed by Marcelo Arenas for just $16k in March. These connections don’t usually pull in that much support, but she’s hard to ignore in her current form. The problem is we probably saw the best she has to offer last time when she got a great trip, shaking loose on the lead. This time there appears to be some other speeds signed on.
Two runners drawn down towards the rail could have intentions on getting to the lead. Liberty Flame (#1) exits a gate-to-wire victory against claiming foes last time, and now moves up in class off the claim. She’s competed effectively at this level before, but could be under pressure from the rail.
I’m more interested in Silver Fist (#2), who returns from a layoff after an inconsistent 2022 season. Yet I think she had some valid excuses in her final few outings last year, as she caught wet tracks that she doesn’t appreciate on a pair of occasions, and just didn’t take to turf two back. She also didn’t get the smoothest ride last time, as she was tentatively handled, backing off the pace after trying to squeeze through along the rail on the backstretch. She has the ability to beat this field if she’s ready to fire her best shot off the layoff.
Another intriguing entrant is Meraviglioso (#4). She could only manage a third-place finsh the last time she competed at this level, but she’s since held her own in a couple of starts against tougher open-company fields. She might have run the best race of her career last time when only losing the Grade 3 Distaff Handicap by 7 1/2 lengths, and now she’s landing in a far softer spot.
My top pick is Fancy Feline (#7). It might appear she’s been off form, but I can make some excuses for her recent efforts. She got away to a poor start in that Jan. 28 affair, a race that was dominated up front. She subsequently ran into the superior Grannys Connection on Feb. 25, but still put in an effort that would make her competitive here. Then last time she was actually chasing in a forward position along the rail on the backstretch, but got significantly shuffled back behind a tiring rival on the turn. She finished up decently once in the clear. Now she gets a switch to Trevor McCarthy, who has had success riding her in the past.