Crimson Frost looks to cool off field in Sunday's Heavenly Prize Invitational

by Brian Bohl

Barry Ostrager's Crimson Frost will look to build on a 2019 campaign in which she won her first career stakes and placed third in her graded stakes bow when she makes her 2020 debut in the $125,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational for fillies and mares 4-year-olds and up on Sunday at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The one-turn mile will mark the Kentucky-bred Crimson Frost's first appearance as a 6-year-old. Last year, the Stormy Atlantic mare rallied to win the Bodacious Tatas at one mile and 70 yards in September at Monmouth Park for her first stakes score.

Encouraged by that effort, trainer Michelle Nevin moved her up to graded stakes company for the first time, where she registered a game effort to finish third in the Grade 2 Beldame on September 28 at Belmont Park, finishing only behind Wow Cat and the winner Midnight Bisou, who went on to earn the 2019 Eclipse Award as Champion Older Dirt Female.

Crimson Frost again faced strong competition next out in the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm on November 2 at the Big A but fell at the start after getting pinched. Crimson Frost returned to the worktab in January and has recorded six workouts, including a five-furlong breeze in 1:02.52 Monday over the Belmont training track.

"Right after that race [Turnback the Alarm], after she had fallen, she had banged herself pretty good, so we just backed off of her and gave her some time off. When we brought her back, she got it going again and she's doing well," Nevin said.

Manny Franco will be in the irons, breaking from the inside post.

Beach Haven Thoroughbreds' Newly Minted is a three-time stakes winner against fellow New York breds and will be seeking her first stakes win against open company for trainer Linda Rice.

The Central Banker filly made a strong 4-year-old debut in running second to More Mischief in the Biogio's Rose on February 9. Unraced as a 2-year-old, Newly Minted started her career with three straight wins, including a 2 ½-length score in the Bouwerie on May 27.

Newly Minted has finished off the board just once in nine starts, going 5-2-1, with the only out-of-money effort a fourth-place finish in the Empire Distaff on October 19.

Jose Lezcano, tied for the Aqueduct winter meet's leading rider with 54 wins, will pick up the mount, drawing post 5.

No Hayne No Gayne, who finished third behind Newly Minted in the Biogio's Rose, will run at one mile for the fourth consecutive start. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen will again send out a mare who has run consistent at Aqueduct, with a 2-2-6 career ledger in 13 previous starts. Reylu Gutierrez picks up the mount and will break from post 3.

Two of Espresso Shot's three career wins have come at the Heavenly Prize distance. Trainer Jorge Abreu moved the New York-bred Mission Impazible filly up to graded stakes company in the Grade 3 Go for Wand in December, where she finished sixth. Espresso Shot ran fourth last out in the Biogio's Rose.

Espresso Shot capped her juvenile year with a win in the 2018 East View and started her 2019 season with a win in the one-mile Busher. Making her seventh start since her last trip to the winner's circle, Espresso Shot will look to return to her old form. Eric Cancel, tied with Lezcano for the meet's top jockey, will ride from post 2.

Abounding Joy was second in the Interborough last out on January 20 at Aqueduct in her first start since being transferred to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. She returns to a track where she won in April before finishing as the runner-up to Saguaro Row last out, with Junior Alvarado tabbed to ride from post 4.

After 23 previous starts, Happycrest will make her first stakes appearance, stepping up in class for trainer Chandradat Goberdhan. Romero Ramsay Maragh will have the call from the outside post.

The seventh running of the Heavenly Prize is slated as Race 3 on Sunday's nine-race card with a post time of 2:26 p.m. Eastern. First post is 1:30 p.m.