A half-dozen 3-year-old fillies will vie for their
first stakes win when they assemble Sunday afternoon at Aqueduct
Racetrack for the $75,000 Dearly Precious.
Favored in the six-furlong sprint – postponed from last Saturday
because of a snowstorm – is Shadwell Stable’s homebred Elghayoor. The
Ghostzapper filly has run well
in both her starts, finishing second by two lengths to Ruthless
runner-up Kiss the Lady first time out and then second, beaten
three-quarters of a length, to the subsequently stakes-placed Dear To
All.
“Right now, it seems like good timing to go ahead and try,” said
Art Magnuson, assistant to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. “We think she can
win, otherwise we wouldn’t run.”
Elghayoor, first-time Lasix, drew post position 2 with Eddie Castro aboard as the 2-1 morning-line favorite.
Joining Elghayoor in the starting gate will be stablemate
Railtown Girl, who carries the colors of Cam Allard. An easy 2 ½-length
winner of her first start at
Delaware Park, the Candy Ride filly returned to
New York
and stepped right into stakes company, where she finished third behind
the well-regarded Lady Banks in the $75,000 Ruthless on January 12.
“She’s improving leaps and bounds all the time,” said Magnuson
of Railtown Girl, a $230,000 purchase as a 2-year-old. “She trained OK
in the mornings at
Saratoga,
just OK, and Mr. Allard is great about trying what we need to try. We
had other maidens, so we sent her out of town for the softer spot, and
she ran very well. We took a shot in the Ruthless,
and she stepped up. Hopefully she’ll step up again.”
Junior Alvarado will ride Railtown Girl, 8-1 on the morning line, from post position 4.
Kiss the Lady will be making her third straight stakes
appearance for trainer Rudy Rodriguez, having faded to finish sixth
after setting the early pace in the one-mile,
70-yard Busanda on January 5 prior to her runner-up finish in the
Ruthless. The bay daughter of Quiet American, 1-1-0 from four starts,
broke her maiden at second asking on November 11 over the Big A’s main
track.
Jose Ortiz will be in the irons as Kiss the Lady leaves from post position 5 at 3-1 on the morning line.
New to the re-drawn race is True Fortune, who will be making her
first stakes start and first start in open company. The Yes It’s True
filly, who broke her maiden at
Saratoga Race Course, enters the Dearly Precious off a late-running
victory in a six-furlong optional claimer on January 31.
True Fortune, 5-1 on the morning line, will leave from the rail with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard.
Rounding out the field are Cubicle Queen, the 5-2 second choice
on the morning line off her front-running maiden victory on January 5,
and recent maiden winner Maggiesfreuddnslip,
who scored by 6 ¼ lengths on January 19.