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Saguaro Row looks to continue Aqueduct success in Monday's Interborough

by Brian Bohl

Fresh off two stellar efforts over Aqueduct Racetrack's main track, Saguaro Row will look to sustain that momentum in her 5-year-old debut in the 99th running of the $100,000 Interborough for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up on a special Monday holiday card at the Big A.

Saguaro Row, owned by Newtownanner Stud Farm and her breeder Mark Breen, enters off her best performance in a graded stakes last out when she sat just off the pace-setter to finish second, 2 1/4-lengths back to winner Spiced Perfection, in the one-mile Grade 3 Go For Wand on December 7.

Trainer Michael Stidham will now see Saguaro Row cut back to seven furlongs, matching the distance at which she captured the Pumpkin Pie by 4 ¼ lengths on November 9 at Aqueduct.

"I think 6 ½-to-seven furlongs is her sweet spot where she runs her best, so I think the distance is good and she seems to like the track there," Stidham said. "She came out of her last race in good shape and she's been at Fair Hill [Maryland]. We left her there in preparation for this race. She had a couple of real nice works and she's ready to go."

The daughter of Union Rags earned a personal-best 88 Beyer Speed Figure for her Pumpkin Pie win, part of a 2019 campaign in which she registered three of her four career wins and also ran second in the Shine Again in July at Saratoga Race Course. Saguaro Row notched a 3-2-1 record in eight starts last year, including a 1-2-1 mark in six stakes appearances.

"We finally figured out that she's best at the one turn and so we focused on one-turn races and she found a comfort in that area, so that's where we are going to keep her," Stidham said. "We're looking at this race and if she runs well and comes out of it good, we'll consider the [Grade 3] Barbara Fritchie [February 15 at Laurel Park] and then maybe give her a little break after that."

Jose Lezcano will pick up the mount and from post 2.

Jay Em Ess Stable's Our Circle of Love has finished first or second in each of her last three starts, including a runner-up effort to Pauseforthecause in the six-furlong Garland of Roses in her stakes debut on December 8 at Aqueduct.

The Michelle Nevin trainee is 2-6-0 in 10 career starts and will again race at the Big A, where the 5-year-old Distorted Humor mare broke her maiden in November 2018. Our Circle of Love was a runner-up in her first four career starts before earning that trip to the winner's circle.

Manny Franco will have the call out of post 3.

Abounding Joy, fifth last out in the Jack Bishop in May at Prairie Meadows, will be making her first start in nearly nine months. A winner of three of her first six starts, the Quality Road mare will make her 5-year-old bow in the care of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott for the first time after previously being conditioned by Rodolphe Brisset.

Junior Alvarado will pick up the mount and depart from post 7.

New Year's Wish made her first stakes appearance in her 10th career start last out when she ran third in the Garland of Roses. Trained by Linda Rice, the New Year's Day mare will again face Our Circle of Love, picking up jockey Kendrick Carmouche's services from post 5.

Rounding out the field is wet-track specialist Slimey, a 1 ¼-length winner against allowance company on New Year's Day for trainer David Cannizzo, out of post 1 with Eric Cancel aboard; Piedi Bianchi will make her first start off a 12-month layoff, with Carlos Martin taking over the training duties [post 4, Dylan Davis]; Honor Way, an allowance winner at the Interborough distance on November 22 at Aqueduct for trainer Charlie Baker [post 6, Jorge Vargas, Jr.]; and Champagne Bliss, trained by Chad Summers [post 8, Luis Rodriguez Castro].

Monday's nine-race Martin Luther King, Jr. Day card will feature the Interborough in Race 8 with a post time of 3:55 p.m. Eastern. First post is 12:30 p.m.