Willet staying home for Broadway

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There was some allure for trainer and part-owner Jimmy Iselin to ship Willet to Maryland for Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Barbara Fritchie Stakes at Laurel. A win would have been her first in a graded stakes, and she could have earned enough money to surpass the $1 million mark in purse earnings.

But the specter of subfreezing temperatures in Maryland and the chance to run Willet out of her own stall at Aqueduct made Saturday’s $100,000 Broadway Stakes a more attractive proposition for Iselin. Thus, Willet was one of six New York-bred fillies and mares entered Wednesday for the Broadway at six furlongs.

The Broadway, which will go as race 3, shares top billing on Saturday’s nine-race card with the $100,000 Haynesfield for New York-bred 4-year-olds and up. First post Saturday is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

Willet is 8, and Iselin insists that she will be bred this spring. Curlin and Tiznow are the leading stallion prospects, according to Iselin. However, Iselin believes Willet is sound and happy, attributes she displayed on a chilly Wednesday morning while galloping over the inner track.

“The only reason we’re running is because she’s really doing well,” Iselin said. “I wanted to run in the Barbara Fritchie, but I’m not going to ship down there in 1 degree temperatures. She’s not the kind of horse I want to ship to a new environment.”

Temperatures are expected to be frigid in New York on Saturday as well, which could put the Aqueduct card in jeopardy.

Willet has made all 29 of her starts in New York. She has 10 wins, 8 seconds, and 6 thirds. She is a five-time stakes winner but is winless in eight graded stakes attempts. In 2012, she was beaten a neck in the Grade 2 Go for Wand at Aqueduct. In 2013, she finished third in the Grade 1 Ballerina.

Irad Ortiz Jr., who won the 2015 Interborough on Willet and was on her for a third-place finish in allowance company last out, has the call again Saturday. Though Ortiz is named to ride Wonder Gal in the Barbara Fritchie, it is expected that he will stay in New York provided Aqueduct conducts racing.

Willet drew post 3 in the Broadway. Also entered were Myfourchix, Tricky Zippy, Make the Moment, Blithely, and Court Dancer.