The May ($100.000 Purse)
AQU- For Fillies Three Years Old Foaled In NY
One Mile on the Dirt
February 20, 2021

This is a rather quiet weekend in terms of the KYD and KYO chases, but we still have some racing that can be talked about. At AQU, a field of six NY-bred fillies will be going to post to decide the sixth running of The May, a $100.000 ungraded stake. This is a race that is still looking for that exciting past winner to talk about, so maybe this can be the year. Last year, Antiquated Story got the win for Nakamura Stables, and she did end up winning a Grade 2 two starts later but has not won since that race. Here are the fillies that we will see in action for this year’s event!

#1- A Girl On Fire (Smokey Stover, ridden by J Lezcano)- Smokey Stover has big plans for this one, purchasing the filly for $375.000 just two weeks ago from D J C Racing Stables. A lot of that is for breeding potential, but the race record has been solid thus far. She has bounced around between overnights and stakes, with the highlight of her career right now being a fourth place finish in the Grade 3 Schuylerville last summer.

#2- Fleeting (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by P Morales)- With $350.000 in hand, D J C Racing Stables will be sending a filly to this race. Fleeting will be asked to beat her former stablemate and the rest of the field in what is her stake debut. She has climbed the ladder to get here, and has two wins in her last three starts and hopes to continue that momentum.

#3- Indecisive (Mb Stables, ridden by M Franco)- The filly by Worst Case Scenario, a sire that has a recent large sale pending associated with him, is making just the third start of her career. Last month, she was right here at the big A to break her maiden , and edged out her stablemate for that victory. This will be the longest she has run, but a recent work suggests that she will be just fine at a mile.

#4- Bronx Belle (Arindel, ridden by S R Bahen)- This is an experienced runner, making the 12th start of her career to date. She’s won two of them, but her last win was back at the end of August and she has already made eight starts since then. Many of them are in ungraded stakes similar to this one, and until her last race, she wasn’t hitting the board. Two weeks ago, she changed that by running second in the $100.000 Ruthless right here.

#5- Blue Moon Rising (Sccj Stables, ridden by T McCarthy)- Broke her maiden last month, coming right here at AQU at a mile in what was her sixth start. The trainer is feeling good about that, and hopes that this filly will continue to rise up the ranks. She has put together a couple of good works leading into this, so you cannot rule her out. This field is wide open, and she has a couple of races, albeit much different conditions, that make me a little hesitant to pick her.

#6- Fantasy Command (Tiratzo, ridden by D Davis)- Starting on the outside, this Command Attention filly will be hoping that her last start, the Grade 2 Santa Ynez, is a complete throw out. If it is, then she can be one of the favorites here, based off a strong second place showing in the $375.000 Fifth Avenue for NY breds in December. That come from behind effort was off a four month layoff as well. I do think the Santa Ynez will prove to be a fluke, and look for her to be close at the end.

Prediction: 1-6-3-4

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded