"The extra eight of mile helps," trainer Dan Peitz said. "The pacesetters were honest in the Acorn but they had enough left at the end and my filly kind of flattened out. Hopefully, they'll have to run a bit faster this time around."Tap Dance and Mystic Lady, both trained by Mark Hennig, figure to go in the Mother Goose.
Flute, winner of last month's Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), will not run in Saturday's Mother Goose Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park after popping an abscess in her right front at Hollywood Park and missing an important work.The $250,000 Mother Goose is the nine-furlong middle leg of New York's "Triple Tiara" for 3-year-old fillies. The first leg, the Acorn Stakes (gr. I), run on June 8, was won by Forest Secrets."She's going back to the track this morning," Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel said of Flute on Wednesday. "She'd been away too long to miss a work. With another horse, maybe you take a shot, but not with her.Flute, a lightly-raced daughter of Seattle Slew, has only made four career starts and two since January. She won her last start, the Oaks, on May 4. Frankel said the July 21 Coaching Club America Oaks (gr. I) could be next, or Flute could wait until the Aug. 18 Alabama Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga.Forest Secrets, 50-1 winner of the Acorn for owner Debby Oxley, will make her fourth career start in the Mother Goose. The daughter of Forest Wildcat, trained by John Ward, breezed five furlongs Monday morning in 1:00 with exercise rider Bobby McKnight aboard.Forest Secrets has won two of her three starts racing on or near the lead. She will be going 1 1/8 miles for the first time in the Mother Goose."She's given no indication that she can't get the distance and I don't think that will be a problem," said Ward's wife Donna. "She can stay anywhere you want. She doesn't have to set the pace."Robert Low's Real Cozzy, beaten just a half-length in the Acorn while finishing third, will get another shot against her fellow fillies in the Mother Goose.