Wonder Gal sets Plan B into motion

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Wonder Gal made an eye-catching debut last summer when she galloped to a 14 1/2-length victory in the Lynbrook Stakes, a six-furlong race at Belmont Park.

Her 3-year-old debut figures to be much more challenging when she returns from a 154-day layoff in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct.

Wonder Gal will face multiple stakes winner Condo Commando and stakes winners Jacaranda, Noble and a Beauty, and Money’soncharlotte as well as Puca and Sweet Corine.

The Gazelle offers 170 qualifying points to the $1 million Kentucky Oaks on May 1 at Churchill Downs.

Wonder Gal has not raced since finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 1. After getting about seven weeks on a New Jersey farm, Wonder Gal came back to trainer Leah Gyarmati in January. Her training schedule was hampered by wicked winter weather, which also forced the cancellation of a six-furlong New York-bred allowance race on March 20 that Gyarmati was going to use as a prep.

“It would have been a perfect stepping-stone to come back in the Gazelle,” Gyarmati said. “I think that threw a monkey wrench into my plans.”

Wonder Gal has had a series of stamina-building workouts in the last three weeks.

The Gazelle field, from the rail out, is Puca, Sweet Corine, Money’soncharlotte, Wonder Gal, Condo Commando, Jacaranda, and Noble and a Beauty.