Trainer Todd Pletcher also sends a pair into the Top Flight, running Anstu Stable's Tugger and the New York-bred Maddie May, owned by So Madcapt Stable. Tugger should be forwardly placed and will try to win the one-mile contest from the front.Bohemia Stable's Shiny Band has taken down four allowance contests this year, and she steps up for trainer Allen Jerkins following a third in the grade III Honeybee at the Meadowlands Nov. 2. The Top Flight Handicap field, in post position order with jockeys and weights: Zonk (Richard Migliore, 113); Shiny Band (Jose Espinoza, 112); Latour (Javier Castellano, 114); Tugger (Jose Velez Jr., 116); A.O.L. Hayes (Eibar Coa, 114); Atelier (Edgar Prado, 120); Cat Cay (John Velzquez, 117); Maddie May (Norberto Arroyo Jr., 113); Arty'svirginiagirl (Jose Santos, 112).
Atelier, a solid fourth last out in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I), will carry high weight into the grade II, $150,000 Top Flight Handicap Friday at Aqueduct. A good field of nine will face the starter.A homebred for Helen Alexander, Atelier loves the Big A, having scored in the grade III Next Move there in March, and the grade III Turnback the Alarm a year ago. Atelier made a sweeping move in the Distaff at 53-1 and ended up just 1 1/2 lengths behind winner Unbridled Elaine, missing the show spot by a nose to Two Item Limit. Shug McGaughey will saddle that one along with Cat Cay for the Top Flight. Ogden Phipps' Cat Cay turned in a monstrous performance last out in annexing the Thoroughbred Club of America by 7 1/2 lengths Oct. 21 at Keeneland. The daughter of Pleasant Colony scorched the six furlongs in 1:09 1/5. McGaughey won the 1994 running of the Top Flight with Educated Risk.
