Multiple grade I winner Wait a While will attempt to make amends for her off-the-board performance as the 1-2 favorite in her last start when she heads to post for the Just a Game Stakes (gr. IIT) June 9 at Belmont Park.
The daughter of Maria’s Mon enters the Just a Game off a fifth place finish in the Jenny Wiley (gr. II) at Keeneland, which was taken off the turf and moved to Polytrack. The Jenny Wiley was the first start over a synthetic surface for Wait a While, a multiple grade I winner on turf.
Wait a While has won after setting the pace and stalking the early leaders, which will give jockey Garrett Gomez a tactical advantage. Todd Pletcher, the current top trainer in the North America by earnings, conditions Wait a While for owner Arindel Farm.
William Farrish and W. Temple Webber Jr. bred Wait a While in Kentucky. Wait a While is out of Flirtatious, a daughter of champion and classic winner A.P. Indy.
Wait a While will face four opponents, all graded or group stakes winners on turf, in the Just a Game. Included in the field is My Typhoon, winner of the Jenny Wiley and two other grade II races. My Typhoon is by Giant’s Causeway, a group I winner on turf in France, England, and Ireland.
Take the Ribbon will seek to win consecutive races for the first time in her 10 race career as she enters the Just a Game off a nose victory in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (gr. IIIT) on the Kentucky Derby undercard May 5. The Distaff Turf Mile was the first graded stakes victory for Take the Ribbon, who has placed in multiple grade I stakes.
Miss Shop won her only start over Belmont’s Widener Turf Course, the 2006 Castle Royale Stakes last July. Miss Shop has won five stakes in her career, including triumphs in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf and the Rampart Handicap (gr. IIT), both of which came at Gulfstream Park this year.
Mauralakana overcame early trouble to prevail by four lengths in her last start, an open allowance race on turf at Churchill Downs May 23. Mauralakana, second in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (gr. IIT) at Keeneland to Vacare last October, is a group III winner in her native France.
PP. Horse, Weight, Jockey
1--Take the Ribbon, 120, Rafael Bejarano
2--My Typhoon, 118, Eddie Castro
3--Miss Shop, 120, Cornelio Velazquez
4--Mauralakana, 118, Julien Leparoux
5--Wait a While, 118, Garrett Gomez