Teen Pauline starts back in Turnback the Alarm

ELMONT, N.Y. – Teen Pauline, a winner of three stakes to begin the year, makes her return from a seven-month layoff in Sunday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Turnback the Alarm Stakes, the closing-day feature at Belmont Park.

Teen Pauline faces seven rivals in the 1 1/16-mile Turnback the Alarm, including undefeated stablemate Dame Dorothy and the uncoupled Chad Brown-trained entry of Endless Chatter and Catch My Drift.

Teen Pauline, owned by Stonestreet Stable, won a trio of two-turn stakes over Aqueduct’s inner track, capped by the Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap on March 1. Trainer Todd Pletcher sent her to south Florida to train, with an eye on the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park. But Pletcher wasn’t happy with the way Teen Pauline was training at Palm Meadows, so he turned her out and gave her time off.

“She wasn’t quite traveling as well,” Pletcher said. “We sent her to Stonestreet Ocala and basically just freshened her up. I’m not positive a one-turn mile and a sixteenth is ideal – I think she’s better in a two-turn situation – but she needs to run.”

Teen Pauline had a steady series of works leading up to her return, but she was unable to complete her final move Monday. Her exercise rider had to pull her up in the stretch of the training track when another horse got loose and was being chased by an outrider.

Pletcher also sends out Dame Dorothy, owned by Bobby Flay. Dame Dorothy has won all three of her starts.