Francesca Le Donne Photo

Clement trio looks strong in $100K Forever Together

by Keith McCalmont

Christophe Clement, the Big A fall meet’s leading trainer, will saddle a trio of contenders in Friday’s fourth renewal of the $100,000 Forever Together, a 1 1/16-mile turf test for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Thanksgiving Week at the Big A will feature three days of exciting action with live racing offered Friday through Sunday offering 10 stakes worth $1 million.

In addition to the Forever Together, Friday’s stakes include the Grade 3, $100,000 Comely for sophomore fillies at nine furlongs and the $100,000 Gio Ponti at 1 1/16-miles on the turf for sophomores.

Clement will be represented by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Tango Uniform Racing’s Feel Glorious, Scott D. Krase and Peter G. Stokes' Simplicity and Justice Stables’ Sorrentina Lemon.

The multiple graded-stakes placed Feel Glorious, a 4-year-old daughter of Bated Breath, is perfect in two starts on the Big A green, with both wins coming last year in 1 1/16-mile events in the Memories of Silver and Winter Memories.

The talented bay, who boasts a record of 18-5-3-3 with purse earnings of $405,484, has made four of her five starts this season in graded company led by third-place efforts in the Grade 2 New York in June at Belmont and the Grade 3 Matchmaker in July at Monmouth Park to kick off her campaign.

Feel Glorious bested Forever Together-rival Chaleur in August to capture the 1 1/16-mile Perfect Sting on the Saratoga turf and arrives at Friday’s test from a fourth in the Grade 3 Athenia.

“She’s doing well. She’s had a pretty good year and she loves Aqueduct,” said Clement. “I was a touch disappointed in her last race. It was a slow pace and she was left with a lot to do. It will likely be her last race at the moment and then we’ll give her a break.”

Junior Alvarado retains the mount from post 4.

Simplicity, a Casamento bay out of the Dansili mare Sleek Gold, posted a record of 7-1-1-1 last year in her native France for former conditioner Fabrice Chappet before joining the Clement barn for her 4-year-old campaign. The talented filly won at first asking for Clement in a one-mile turf allowance on July 23 at Saratoga and returned to action last out to finish second in a 1 1/16-mile optional-claiming tilt on September 26 at Belmont.

“It’s a touch ambitious, but she has been training very well," said Clement. "It’s a good race to give her a chance.”

Eric Cancel will ride from post 2.

Sorrentina Lemon, who ran second to Feel Glorious in the 2019 Winter Memories, has hit the board in a pair of optional-claiming events on turf this season. The 4-year-old Lemon Drop Kid bay will cut back in distance after running third last out when traveling nine furlongs on the Belmont turf on October 9.

Dylan Davis rides from post 3.

Lawrence Goichman’s New York-homebred Myhartblongstodady brings a four-race win streak into the Forever Together. Trained by Jorge Abreu, Myhartblongstodady is undefeated in two starts on the Big A turf having graduated at one mile in her April 2018 debut along with a rallying score in a 1 1/16-mile state-bred allowance to close out her 2019 season last November. Both Big A wins came under the care of her former conditioner Chad Brown.

The 5 year-old Scat Daddy mare was transferred to Abreu for her current campaign where she is a perfect 3-for-3 while boasting a new best Beyer Speed Figure in each of her front-running victories against fellow New York-breds. 

In July, Myhartblongstodady earned an 84 Beyer in a four-length score in an optional-claiming event on the Saratoga turf. She followed in September with a one-length win in the 1 1/16-mile Yaddo that garnered a 90 Beyer for the dark bay’s first stakes win and enters her first open-company assignment from a three-length romp that registered a 91 Beyer in the 1 1/16-mile Ticonderoga on October 24 at Belmont Park.

Jose Lezcano retains the mount aboard Myhartblongstodady from post 9.

Brown, a four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer, captured the inaugural running of the Forever Together in 2017 with Penjade. He will saddle William H. Lawrence and Bradley Thoroughbreds’ Tapit Today and Doubledown Stables’ Miss Teheran in search of a second Forever Together score.

Bred in Kentucky by Gainesway Thoroughbreds, Tapit Today completed the trifecta in the Grade 3 Suwanee River in February at Gulfstream and the Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf in September before making the grade last out in the Grade 3 Athenia on October 25 at 1 1/16-miles on firm Belmont turf.

The Irish-bred Miss Teheran launched her career in France where she won a pair of races over the synthetic surface at Deauville in 2018 as a juvenile. After missing her sophomore season, the Teofilo chestnut made her North American debut for Brown with a closing second in a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance on September 6 at Monmouth Park.

Jose Ortiz has the call on Tapit Today from post 12, while Nik Juarez will guide Miss Teheran from post 10.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott will saddle Juddmonte Farms’ homebred Chaleur. The 4-year-old Dansili bay launched her career in her native England for former conditioner Ralph Beckett, who trained the filly to a maiden win at Leicester in 2018 ahead of a third in the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge at Newmarket.

After going winless in her sophomore season, Chaleur was sent to North America and won at second asking in a one-mile optional claiming tilt on July 5 on the Belmont turf ahead of a second to Feel Glorious in the Perfect Sting at Saratoga.

Last out, Chaleur was an even fifth in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel on September 26 traveling one mile on the Belmont turf.

“She’s doing well,” said Mott’s Belmont-based assistant Leana Willaford. “We had an allowance race picked out for her, but it didn't go so we're going to give her a shot here. If she runs her race, she should be right there.”

Benjamin Hernandez has the call from post 5.

Rounding out the field are Team Valor International and Everything’s Cricket Racing’s Madita [post 1, Chris DeCarlo], VinLaur Racing Stables, Dark Horse Racing Stable and Taste Of Victory Stables’ I’llhandalthecash [post 6, Harry Hernandez]; Larry R. Johnson and R. D. M. Racing Stable’s No Mo Lady [post 7, Kendrick Carmouche], Whisper Hill Farm’s Story Time [post 8, Jorge Vargas, Jr.], and Just In Time Racing’s Platinum Paynter [post 11, Luis Rodriguez Castro]. Overheated is entered for the main-track only.

The Forever Together is slated as Race 9 on Friday's 10-race card. First post is 11:50 a.m. America's Day at the Races will present daily television coverage of the Aqueduct fall meet with coverage to air on FOX Sports and MSG Networks.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the 18-day fall meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.