Highway Star has perfect path

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Highway Star may have an ideal path to victory when the New York-bred millionaire makes her 5-year-old debut in Saturday’s $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational at Aqueduct.

With speed horses Divine Miss Grey and Bishop’s Pond to her inside and Frost Wise two stalls to her outside, Highway Star should be able get the stalking trip she covets against seven rivals in the one-turn mile race.

“It should work out good,” said Rodrigo Ubillo, who trains the New York-bred daughter of Girolamo for owner-breeders Chester and Mary Broman.

Highway Star had a solid 4-year-old campaign, winning the Grade 3 Distaff here and Grade 2 Ruffian and Grade 2 Gallant Bloom at Belmont. She lost a head decision to By the Moon in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga.

It was a disappointing finish to the year, however, when Highway Star last November finished 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, a race won by the Bromans’ Bar of Gold. A month later, Highway Star finished second in the Grade 3 Go for Wand, a race not originally on her schedule.

Highway Star was pointed to the Barbara Fritchie at Laurel on Feb. 19, but Ubillo couldn’t get the rider he wanted and he scratched. She would not have been able to run anyway, due to a case of equine herpesvirus in a barn on the Belmont backstretch that precluded shippers from going to Laurel Park.

Ubillo was able to get a few more works into Highway Star, who will have a new rider, Joe Rocco Jr., on Saturday. Highway Star has proven able to run well fresh.

“We always look for a perfect scenario,” Ubillo said. “It never is perfect. We’ll see what she’s got. Hopefully, it’s a good race. I don’t think we have any pressure.”

Divine Miss Grey and Holiday Disguise enter the Heavenly Prize in top form. Divine Miss Grey won an allowance race going a mile Dec. 18 and came back to win the seven-furlong Interborough, controlling the pace from start to finish under Kendrick Carmouche.

Holiday Disguise, also a New York-bred, has won four straight races – including two stakes – and steps into open company for the first time.

Trainer Linda Rice’s midrange goal for Holiday Disguise is the Grade 3 Distaff on April 7, but she did not want to wait until then to run her. That same philosophy worked last week with Holiday Disguise’s halfsister Midnight Disguise, who won the Busher as a stop-gap to the Gazelle on April 7.

Boule, second to Divine Miss Grey at 12-1 odds in the Interborough, could offer value again Saturday.

Securitiz, Harlan Punch top Stymie

In his last two starts around one turn – spanning six months – Securitiz has defeated Backsideofthemoon and Harlan Punch. Saturday, those two as well as Vulcan’s Forge appear to be Securitiz’s main rivals in the $150,000 Stymie Stakes at Aqueduct.

The Stymie, named for the Hall of Fame Thoroughbred trained by Hirsch Jacobs, is being run for the 61st time, but first as a one-turn mile.

Securitiz, trained by Jimmy Jerkens for Centennial Farms, showed a determined late run to win a high-class allowance by a length on Feb. 2. Harlan Punch, third that day, has since come back to win two straight races, including an allowance here Sunday.

Last September, Securitiz outlasted Backsideofthemoon to win the Seattle Slew Stakes by a neck. Backsideofthemoon is coming off a nose win in the Jazil Stakes here Jan. 20.

Manny Franco, aboard for the horse’s last two victories, is back on Securitiz Saturday.

There does not appear to be a lot of pace in the Stymie, with Hit It Once More expected to try and wire the field like he did in the Haynesfield Stakes for New York-breds on Feb. 17.

The lack of pace would seem to hurt Vulcan’s Forge the most. The late-running son of Giant’s Causeway came flying to finish second in the Grade 3 Toboggan going seven furlongs on Jan. 27. Prior to that, he won a one-mile allowance race, defeating Backsideofthemoon.

Fellowship, beaten a neck in the Grade 3 General George, is another who would do better with pace in front of him.

Watershed is the Stymie 123-pound highweight based on his victory in last April’s Grade 3 Ben Ali at Keeneland.

The Stymie goes as race 7 and is the first leg of an all-stakes pick four that concludes with the Grade 3 Gotham.

SUSIE RAISHER Highway Star, shown working at Aqueduct on March 3, has not raced since December.