Win machines Bank Sting, Betsy Blue clash in Broadway Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Bank Sting and Betsy Blue have combined for 18 wins and 10 runner-up finishes from 35 starts, a hallmark of consistency that makes them favorites among horsemen and horseplayers alike. Sunday, the two mares are scheduled to square off for the third time in their careers as part of a six-horse field entered in the $100,000 Broadway Stakes for New York-bred females going seven furlongs at Aqueduct.

The field also includes November Rein, who upset both Bank Sting and Betsy Blue in the Iroquois Stakes last October; the streaking Funny How; and in-form runners Know It All Audrey and Honey Money.

Bank Sting, a 6-year-old daughter of Central Banker, has a record of 8-3-0 from 14 career starts, 6-2-0 from nine starts at Aqueduct. Her last win came in the Dancin Renee Stakes at Belmont in June. Since then, she has finished second in the Iroquois, with Betsy Blue fourth, and second in the Grade 3 Go for Wand on Dec. 3, with Betsy Blue third.

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“She ran really fast last time,” Tonja Terranova, assistant to her husband, John, said of Bank Sting. “It came back her fastest race. So, we just spaced her races out a little bit.”

This will be Bank Sting’s first start in 10 weeks.

Dylan Davis, aboard Bank Sting for three successive stakes victories last winter, has the call from post 4.

While Bank Sting comes in fresh, Betsy Blue has run twice since the Go for Wand, coming back a week later to win the Garland of Roses and then again on Jan. 21 to win the Interborough. Trainer Linda Rice is considering next Saturday’s Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie at Laurel for Betsy Blue, but seemed to be leaning toward running here on Sunday. Her recent stakes wins came at six and seven furlongs, respectively.

“I think she’s better going a little shorter,” Rice said.

Funny How, a 4-year-old daughter of Overanalyze, rides a four-race winning streak into the Broadway, her stakes debut. She is coming off a nose victory in an open allowance, a race for which she received only a 72 Beyer Speed Figure.

“Our filly has got to improve or at least run her A-plus-plus race, but she’s training awesome,” trainer Ray Handal said.

November Rein, 4, is a two-time New York-bred stakes winner, having won the Seeking the Ante at Saratoga at 2 and pulling a 19-1 upset over Bank Sting in the Iroquois last October. She then finished sixth of 11 in the Safely Kept Stakes at Laurel on Nov. 26, her most recent start.

Know It All Audrey has won three of her last five starts, with a second-place finish behind Venti Valentine in the Bay Ridge Stakes here on Dec. 17. Honey Money is 9 for 32 in her career. She has finished well behind Betsy Blue the three most recent times they met.

The Broadway is carded as the third of nine races on a card that begins at 12:50 p.m.

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