Clement sends out tough pair for $125K John Hettinger

Trainer Miguel Clement will saddle a pair of stakes-winning contenders in Silver Skillet and Loon Cry for Sunday’s $125,000 John Hettinger, a six-furlong outer turf sprint for New York-bred fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, at Belmont at the Big A.

The Hettinger [Race 8] marks the final stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack before racing returns to Saratoga Race Course for the July 4th Racing Festival from July 3-6 to close out the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet. The Festival serves as a prelude to the traditional 40-day Saratoga summer meet, which runs from Thursday, July 10 through Monday, September 1. First post for Sunday’s nine-race card at the Big A is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Tango Uniform Racing and Steven Rocco’s multiple stakes-winner Silver Skillet [post 2, Joel Rosario] cuts back to this distance for the first time since September 2022. The daughter of Liam’s Map also makes her first start at a distance less than one mile since a close second in a seven-furlong state-bred allowance in June 2023 at Belmont Park.

“She’s doing very well, and unfortunately the distance is a bit of a question mark, but we always thought she had more speed than we let her show in the races,” Clement said. “Six furlongs is a touch short on paper, but she’s been training well and we’re going for it.”

The 5-year-old grey was last seen finishing second in the state-bred Mount Vernon traveling 1 1/16 miles on June 4 at Saratoga, where she stumbled at the start and tracked in third through the first three-quarters before making her run and finishing 2 1/2 lengths behind the victorious Spinning Colors.

“She hasn’t been jumping as well from the gates the last two seasons compared to when she was younger, which is probably problematic going six furlongs at Aqueduct, but she looks great and it’s time to run,” Clement said.

Silver Skillet posted a strong campaign last year that included a pair of wins in the off-the-turf Mount Vernon and Port Washington on the turf, both open-lengths romps that received a career and field-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure. She seeks her first win since the 1 1/16-mile Port Washington here in July, with her best finishes since then a third in the state-bred Ticonderoga in October and her last-out Mount Vernon effort.

Bred by Robert Chasanoff, Silver Skillet was named the NYTB Champion Turf Female in 2023 for a campaign that included a win in the Spa’s Suzie O’Cain and a narrowly-beaten fourth in the Grade 3 Pebbles. She has banked $522,690 through a 20-5-4-3 record.

Waterville Lake Stables’ homebred Loon Cry [post 7, Dylan Davis] captured consecutive races last summer, led by a pair of open-company stakes wins at this distance in Woodbine’s Sweet Briar Too and Laurel Park’s Sensible Lady Turf Dash. Both efforts saw her rally from well off the pace with her usual late kick to get up just in time and win by one length, the latter win coming over next-out stakes-winner Queen of the Mud.

The 5-year-old daughter of More Than Ready, who boasts another open-company stakes placing when third in Presque Isle Downs’ Lady Erie in August 2023, enters from a close fourth in the five-furlong The Very One on May 16 at Pimlico Race Course where she endured a poor start and rallied from last-of-12 and 18 lengths off the pace to land one length back of the victorious Bosserati.

Clement said the Pimlico effort proves Loon Cry is back to her best form.

“I think the other day she showed she’s at her best, she was just compromised,” Clement said. “She was very unlucky down at Pimlico, and without a doubt the extra distance will be beneficial for her. A few lengths after the wire, she went clear. You don’t often see a filly make up 15 lengths in the stretch, and she did. She’s been training forwardly and we’re hopeful for another successful season.”

Mitre Box Stable, Clear Stars Stable and Eighth Note Stable’s Sunday Girl [post 4, Katie Davis] returns from a nearly four-month respite to make her turf debut for trainer David Duggan.

The consistent Central Banker 4-year-old boasts a local three-race win streak against open company that includes a pair of allowance-level scores in December and February, and a last-out nose victory in the six-furlong Correction on March 2 over next-out Grade 3 Distaff runner-up St. Benedicts Prep.

“Any time they win any more than a couple of races, you’re thrilled,” Duggan said of Sunday Girl’s 6-for-8 record. “To get to the race is a plus, to win a race is another plus, and to win as many as she did is a huge bonus. She owes us nothing.”

In addition to her recent string of victories, Sunday Girl also won the NYSSS Park Avenue last April at Aqueduct, wiring the field in a decisive three-length romp under returning rider Katie Davis, who has been aboard for all but one of her starts.

Sunday Girl worked a half-mile in 48.65 seconds Saturday over Belmont Park’s dirt training track in her final work for Sunday’s test.

“Everything went good, and the preparations have been no problems at all, so I believe we’re on target and fit enough,” Duggan said. “She’s doing great, all the stuff you want going into a race.”

Bred by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds and Eighth Note Stable, Sunday Girl was a $100,000 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale and is out of the winning Harlan’s Holiday mare Lady Daphne, who has already produced two winners on turf.

Madison Avenue Racing Stable, Morris Kernan, Jr. and Jagger, Inc.’s Golden Rocket [post 1, Javier Castellano] enters off a pair of narrow seconds in open company allowance-level routes for trainer Jamie Ness.

The dual stakes-winning 6-year-old daughter of Alpha was a nose second in a one-mile optional claimer on May 24 at Laurel Park, and followed with a neck second going one mile and 70 yards last out on June 19 at Delaware Park. She seeks her first win in her seventh start since transferring to Ness from the barn of Ilkay Kantarmaci.

Bred by Ballybrit Stables, Golden Rocket boasts two wins in the New York Stallion Stakes Series when taking the Statue of Liberty on the turf as a sophomore at Saratoga and the Staten Island in November over the Big A main track.

Completing the field are dual stakes-winner Cara’s Time [post 8, Ruben Silvera] for trainer Mitch Friedman; stakes-winner Soloshot [post 6, Romero Maragh] for trainer Lolita Shivmangal; three-time winner Sugar Bee [post 3, Jose Lezcano] for trainer Milan Milosevic; and maiden-winner Sinead [post 5, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for trainer Jorge Abreu. 

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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