Wings of Dawn likely to be rerouted to Mother Goose

ELMONT, N.Y. – Though trainer Mark Casse entered Wings of Dawn in Saturday’s $100,000 Wild Applause Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf, he is likely to scratch her and point to the Grade 2, $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes on dirt June 29.

Wings of Dawn was among only five 3-year-old fillies entered Wednesday in the Wild Applause, scheduled for one mile on the Widener turf. Wings of Dawn is 0 for 2 on turf but has won her last two starts over Woodbine’s synthetic surface. She has been training over Woodbine’s dirt training track, and Casse has been heartened by the reports on how she’s done.

“She’s trained tremendous,” Casse said. “It’s a shot in the dark, but we’ve been lucky doing that in the past. The Mother Goose could come up a small field.”

The Wild Applause certainly came up a small field, with Chad Brown entering the trio of Blowout, Nova Sol, and Seek and Destroy. Feel Glorious, who beat Blowout in the Memories of Silver but lost to Seek and Destroy in the Soaring Softly, goes out for trainer Christophe Clement. Pep, third in an allowance race here June 1, completes the field.

Joel Rosario will ride Feel Glorious following a quick trip to England, where he was scheduled to ride Nayibeth for Wesley Ward in Friday’s Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Rosario planned to ride at Belmont on Thursday, leave that night and arrive Friday morning in England. As soon as he rides Nayibeth in the first race on the Ascot card, Rosario will head to the airport and fly back to New York, arriving Friday night. He will ride Saturday at Belmont.