Raging Fever and Cat Cay Renew Rivalry at Big A

Raging Fever and Cat Cay meet in the rubber match of their freshly minted rivalry Saturday when they square off in the $150,000 Distaff Breeders' Cup (gr. II) at Aqueduct.

They first met in the First Lady Handicap at Gulfstream in January, with Raging Fever drawing first blood at six furlongs. But when stretching out in the Shirley Jones to seven furlongs, the Distaff Breeders' Cup distance, Cat Cay turned the tables, getting up close home to defeat Raging Fever by a neck.

Raging Fever, a homebred for Edward Evans trained by Mark Hennig, is two-for-three since coming back off a seven-month layoff. She captured the Garland of Roses prior to the First Lady. As a 2-year-old, the daughter of Storm Cat scored in grade I contests like the Matron and Frizette, and suffered her lone loss that year in the 2000 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I).

Cat Cay tipped her hand in the Thoroughbred Club of America last fall at Keeneland and the Top Flight. The daughter of Pleasant Colony races for her breeder, Ogden Phipps. She has taken three of her last four starts for conditioner Shug McGaughey.

Also in the Distaff Breeders' Cup field is comebacking Two Item Limit, who ran a good third in the Breeders' Cup Distaff in October. The Twining mare has placed in four grade I events for owner Joseph Graffeo and trainer Stephen DiMauro.

The field for the Distaff Breeders' Cup, in post position order with jockeys and weights:

Two Item Limit (Jorge Chavez, 117)
Raging Fever (John Velazquez, 120)
Cat Cay (Pat Day, 119)
La Galerie (Richard Migliore, 115)
Prized Stamp (Travis Dunkelberger, 114)
Shiny Band (Javier Castellano, 113)