Arlene's Sun Star Stable's Miss Sky Warrior will get back to the site of some of her biggest victories in the $250,000 Comely Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies, one of three stakes Nov. 24 at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The 1 1/8-mile Comely will be joined by the $150,000 Gio Ponti and the $100,000 Key Cents stakes for New York-breds. Friday's 10-race card will feature a first post of 11:50 a.m. ET.
Trained by Kelly Breen, Miss Sky Warrior is a perfect 3-for-3 in graded stakes at the Big A, including a 13-length romp in the Gazelle Stakes (G2) in April. The First Samurai filly will make her second start following a nearly six-month layoff after finishing a troubled eighth in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1).
Ridden in her return by Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano in the Oct. 28 Turnback the Alarm Handicap (G3), she stuck with her front-running style and set a pressured early pace before fading to fourth as the 3-5 favorite while taking on older competition at Belmont Park.
"Everybody was disappointed after her last race, including Javier," said Al London of Arlene's Sun Star Stable. "She has a very long stride and goes very fast, but it looks like she's going a lot slower. She can be deceiving that way. She went the first half of the race in :45 and change and that was too fast for any horse going that distance. Being fresh like that off a layoff, it even doubled her problem. She's not a nut job, she just goes quick. That's her style and she likes to run.
"You have to be careful of that when you're a rider," he added. "Javier's been on her now and he knows that. We won't be going that fast the first part of the race. She's training very well and we're cautiously optimistic that she's going to run well Friday. She was just very sharp off the layoff and that did her in last time. She's a very good horse. She's won a lot of races, she's won a lot of money, she's sound—it's just that she has a way of fooling people. She can be on the front and relax, or she can be rated. Either way, if she doesn't go too fast, she'll finish well for us. We'll see what happens."
With Castellano retaining the mount, Miss Sky Warrior will break from post 8.
Gary and Mary West's Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) heroine Actress is making her first start since a sixth-place effort in the Cotillion Stakes (G1) at Parx Racing in September for trainer Jason Servis. One start prior, the Tapit filly finished fourth in the Alabama Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.
Others set to challenge in the Comely are Bonita Bianca, winner of the New York Oaks at Finger Lakes this summer, for the Rudy Rodriguez barn and owners Michael Dubb, Bethlehem Stables, and Michael Imperio; Winter Melody Stakes winner Analyze for trainer Michael Matz; Phipps Stable's homebred Parade for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey; Linda Rice-trained Crimson Frost, a seven-length allowance winner Nov. 8; You Know Too, sixth in the Safely Kept Stakes last time out for trainer Michael Gorham; and a pair of up-and-comers for trainer Todd Pletcher in Run and Go and Tapella, who are each making their stakes debuts.
Aqueduct Racetrack, Friday, November 24, 2017, Race 9Entries: Comely S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Run and Go (KY) Luis Saez 114 Todd A. Pletcher 12/1 2 2You Know Too (KY) Kendrick Carmouche 114 Michael E. Gorham 20/1 3 3Parade (KY) Dylan Davis 114 Claude R. McGaughey III 6/1 4 4Bonita Bianca (NY) Angel S. Arroyo 118 Rudy R. Rodriguez 10/1 5 5Actress (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 122 Jason Servis 2/1 6 6Analyze (KY) Nik Juarez 118 Michael R. Matz 15/1 7 7Crimson Frost (KY) Junior Alvarado 114 Linda Rice 15/1 8 8Miss Sky Warrior (KY) Javier Castellano 122 Kelly J. Breen 5/2 9 9Tapella (KY) Manuel Franco 114 Todd A. Pletcher 6/1
