The morning after her dominant win in Aqueduct’s $100,000
Correction Stakes, Nicole H was
showing no signs of fatigue.
“She’s very good,” said trainer Mike Hushion. “Full
of herself this morning. She came out of the race really bright.”
In her start prior to the Correction, Aqueduct’s January 7
Interborough, Nicole H prevailed by a neck over Winning Image, idling slightly
after making the lead in deep stretch. Both races are run at six furlongs, and
Nicole H rolled home a 2 ½-length winner in Saturday’s Correction,
improving her inner-track record to a perfect 4-for-4.
“We weren’t sure why she kind of hung a little bit the last
couple of jumps in her last race, maybe it was something mental,” said
Hushion. “Ramon [Dominguez] said he just loose-reined her [yesterday] the
last sixteenth of a mile and she did it all on her own. The time wasn’t
very fast, but basically she was at three-quarters to the eighth pole and
sprinted to the wire.”
After Saturday’s race, Hushion mentioned that Nicole H might
reappear to defend her title in Aqueduct’s Grade 2, $200,000 Distaff
Handicap run over the main track at seven furlongs on April 14. As of Sunday
morning, no plans for the 5-year-old daughter of Mr. Greeley had been
finalized.
“I’m not sure where we’re going to go next; we’ll
have that conversation pretty soon. I thought she was exceptionally bright this
morning and yesterday in the spitbox. [The race] was almost like a sturdy
three-quarter of a mile work, that was the way you’d like one to work.”