Bombshell part of veteran field in Ladies Handicap
Staff reports OZONE PARK, N.Y. » A sevenhorse field will look to pick up black type for the first time in the new campaign in the 147th running of the $100,000 Ladies Handicap for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up on Sunday at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Carded as Race 8, the 1 1/8-mile route is the second of two stakes on the day’s card, joining the rescheduled $100,000 Alex M. Robb for New Yorkbred 4-year-olds and up in Race 3.
Team Valor International’s Bombshell will return to stakes company for the first time since running sixth in the Grade 1 Beldame on September 30 at Belmont Park. The 5-yearold Bellamy Road mare has run third in optional claimers in back-to-back starts, including a seven-furlong effort on December 22 at Aqueduct.
Trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Bombshell has two wins and two runner-up finishes in five starts at more than a mile, with the only out-of-the-money finish coming in the Beldame, which was contested at the Ladies distance.
Jockey Junior Alvarado, who rode Bombshell last out, will have the return call from the outside post carrying the co-highweight of 117 pounds.
Inconclusive has the benefit of experience winning a stakes, having captured the Northbound Pride Oaks and TaWee in back-to-back races in 2016. Trainer Gary Contessa will see the 5-year-old Include mare make her third consecutive stakes start, drawing post 3 with Jeremy Rose aboard carrying 115 pounds.
Majestic Angel finished third in the Avers Wexler Memorial on September 9 at Arlington before running second against allowance company on November 15. The Majestic Warrior mare ended her 2017 campaign with a seventhplace effort in the Blushing K.D. on December 16 at Fair Grounds.
The Eric Reed trainee will make her Big A debut from the rail with jockey Paco Lopez carrying 117 pounds.
Trainer Linda Rice will saddle a pair of entries, including Crimson Frost, who ran sixth last out in her stakes debut in the Thirty Eight Go Go on January 8 at Laurel Park. The 4-year-old filly by Stormy Atlantic won her first Aqueduct start on November 8 and ran second on December 10, with both of her New York races coming at one mile. Dylan Davis will ride from post 4 at 116 pounds.
Her stablemate, Just Got Out, will be making her first stakes appearance in seven starts and first since running third in the Sis City on April 1 at Aqueduct. The 7-year-old Ontario-bred is the field’s most experienced runner, making her 41st career start, exiting post 2 with Manny Franco carrying 114 pounds.
Sherini, trained by Graham Motion, has won two of her last three races heading into her first stakes appearance. Trevor McCarthy will be in the irons from post 5 with 114 pounds.
Girl Talk, for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, will be making the step up in class for the first time in her seventh career start. The 5-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro will have the services of Kendrick Carmouche out of post 6 carrying 114 pounds.
Originally scheduled for December 31, Sunday’s Alex M. Robb will feature a talented field of older state breds, led by Michael Dubb and David Simon’s Grade 3 Discovery winner Control Group. The 4-yearold Posse colt posted a career best 101 Beyer Speed Figure in an impressive three-length, frontrunning victory to capture his first graded stakes in his first attempt.
Trained by Rudy Rodriguez, Control Group put together a solid sophomore campaign, starting in May with a second-place finish in an allowance race at Finger Lakes. He followed up with three straight wins, including two scores at Saratoga Race Course. In his stakes debut in the October 21 Empire Classic at Belmont Park, Control Group finished second, three lengths behind Twisted Tom.
Control Group will break from post 5 with Kendrick Carmouche in the saddle.
Barry Schwartz’s Papa Shot drew the rail, making his second start back in New York after a globe- trotting third-place finish in the Keeneland Korea Cup in Seoul, South Korea on September 10th. The Linda Rice-trained Distorted Humor gelding finished fourth in the Empire Classic in his first appearance back in the United States. Jockey Junior Alvarado gets the mount.
Yellow Moon Stable and trainer Gary Sciacca will enter Grade 3-placed Testosterstone, who finished third behind Send It In in the last running of the Alex M. Robb on New Year’s Eve 2016. During his 2017 campaign, the 7-year-old gelding by Birdstone scored three wins, two seconds, and two thirds in 13 starts, including a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Greenwood at Parx Racing on September 4. Testosterstone will break from post 3 with Paco Lopez in the irons.
Rounding out the field is Epona Racing Stable’s Extinct Charm for trainer Bruce Brown; David Jacobson-owned and -trained Wake Up in Malibu, who will have the services of jockey Martin Garcia; and Chester and Mary Broman’s homebred Can You Diggit, trained by Jimmy Jerkens, with Manny Franco riding.