One Last Dance, victorious in her first outing
on conventional dirt at Aqueduct Racetrack, returns on New Year’s Day to
face five other fillies and mares in the 140th running of the
$75,000 Ladies Handicap, the first of 29 stakes worth $5.1 million for the Big
A’s winter/spring meet.
With the opening of Genting’s Resorts World Casino New York City
at Aqueduct, total purses for the 79-day meet are expected to increase 36
percent. During the first year of the casino’s operations, 6.5 percent of
the revenue from the Video Lottery Terminals must go to The New York Racing
Association, Inc.’s (NYRA) purse structure.
Trained by Dale Romans, one of a number of prominent trainers drawn to New York for the winter by the boost in purses, One Last
Dance broke her maiden over the artificial surface at Arlington Park
in July. She then traveled east and finished ninth in the Pebbles Stakes at
Belmont Park in October and third in an allowance race at Aqueduct, both on
turf, before coming from off the pace to win a one-mile, 70-yard optional
claimer on December 16.
“She’s bred for the dirt, but she ran so well on Polytrack
that we tried her a couple of times on turf first,” said Romans of the
4-year-daughter of Officer, whose half-brother Liaison won the Grade 1 CashCall
Futurity at Hollywood
Park on December 17.
“This looks like a good place for her to pick up some black type.”
Alan Garcia has the mount on One Last Dance, 6-1 on the morning line
from post position 3 in the 1 1/8-mile race.
Also seeking a second consecutive victory is C C’s Pal, a 2
½-length winner of Aqueduct’s Garland of Roses on December 3. The newly
minted 5-year-old daughter of Alex’s Pal was third in the Grade 2 Go for
Wand Handicap on November 25 and won the Miss Golden Circle overnight stakes at Belmont Park on October 23 in her first start
for new trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr.
Junior Alvarado will ride C C’s Pal, the 8-5 second choice on the
morning line and co-high weight under 119 pounds, from the rail.
Trainer Todd Pletcher, who has wrapped up his second consecutive NYRA
training title, sends out the 7-5 morning-line favorite with Katy Now, a
5-year-old daughter of Tiznow who was fourth in the Go for Wand in her Big A
debut. Winner of the one-mile Dispute at Belmont
Park on September 30, Katy Now also
took an optional claimer at Belmont
in June and subsequently placed third in a pair of overnight stakes at Saratoga
Race Course.
Katy Now, co-high weight under 119 pounds, including Ramon Dominguez,
will leave from post position 5.
Coming in from the mid-Atlantic is Bahama Bound, who won a one-mile,
70-yard optional claimer at Parx Racing on December 4. The 5-year-old daughter
of Empire Maker has been no worse than fourth in 13 starts since breaking her
maiden at Gulfstream
Park in February, 2010.
Cornelio Velasquez will ride Bahama Bound, 8-1 on the morning line, from
post position 6.
Completing the field for the Ladies are Karmageddon, making her first
New York appearance since a sixth-place finish in the 2010 Catinca, and Fools
in Love, sixth in the Grade 3 Tempted in her lone voyage to Aqueduct in 2008.
The field for the $75,000 Ladies
Handicap:
|
PP
|
Horse
|
Jockey
|
Wgt
|
Trainer
|
Odds
|
|
1
|
C
C's Pal (FL)
|
J Alvarado
|
119
|
R E Dutrow, Jr.
|
8-5
|
|
2
|
Karmageddon
(NJ)
|
V Diaz
|
115
|
D Nunn
|
10-1
|
|
3
|
One
Last Dance (KY)
|
A Garcia
|
114
|
D L Romans
|
6-1
|
|
4
|
Fools
in Love (MD)
|
R Curatolo
|
114
|
K J Breen
|
15-1
|
|
5
|
Katy
Now (KY)
|
R A Dominguez
|
119
|
T A Pletcher
|
7-5
|
|
6
|
Bahama
Bound (KY)
|
C H Velasquez
|
115
|
J C Guerrero
|
8-1
|
|
|
|
|