Francesca LeDonne Photo

Spiced Perfection adds flavor to G3 Go for Wand

by Brian Bohl

Three-time graded stakes winner Spiced Perfection will make her first start since competing in the Breeders' Cup last month, headlining a six-horse field in the one-mile Grade 3, $250,000 Go for Wand for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up on Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The 80th running of the Go For Wand, carded as Race 6, is one of four graded stakes on a loaded 10-race card, highlighted by the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile for 3-year-olds and up, the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen for juveniles, and the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle for juvenile fillies.

The Cigar Mile will be televised on a special edition of America's Day at the Races, airing on FS2 and MSG+ from 3-4:30 p.m. Eastern.

Spiced Perfection, owned by Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable and Peter Deutsch, is coming off a fourth-place finish in the seven-furlong Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on November 2 at Santa Anita, nine lengths back to winner Covfefe.

Before making the West Coast trip, the 4-year-old daughter of Smiling Tiger edged Dawn the Destroyer by a head to win the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America on October 5 at Keeneland at six furlongs, winning on the same track where she captured the seven-furlong Grade 1 Madison on April 6 by a neck over Amy's Challenge, who went on to finish third in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff next out.

The Peter Miller trainee will be making her Aqueduct debut and will compete in her first route in 11 starts, dating to her runner-up effort in the 1 1/16-mile Melair in June 2018 at Santa Anita. She carries an 8-5-2 record in 19 career starts, with more than a million dollars in earnings, and will have Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano ride from post 3.

New York-bred Espresso Shot returned off a nearly four-month break when fourth in the New York Stallion Stakes Series Staten Island on November 10. Conditioner Jorge Abreu said the two-time stakes-winner needed that seven-furlong race and is likely to appreciate the Go for Wand's added distance. The sophomore filly by Mission Impazible ran second in her previous route, two lengths back to Wait a Minute in the 1 1/16-mile New York Oaks on July 24 at Finger Lakes.

"She's been training well and came out of her last race good," Abreu said. "She's been training forwardly since, so we're going to take a shot. After going seven-eighths, I think the mile will suit her better. She likes going longer and she likes Aqueduct a lot."

Espresso Shot, owned by NY Final Furlong Racing Stable, Maspeth Stables and Parkland Thoroughbreds, ended her juvenile campaign with a win in East View in December 2018 at the Big A and started her 3-year-old season with a three-quarters of a length score in the Busher, with both wins going one mile.

Bred by Twin Creeks Farm, Espresso Shot has been breezing this fall on Belmont's dirt training track, including a five-furlong work in 1:00.40 on November 26. She will also be competing a track in which she is 2-1-0 in five career starts. Jockey Manny Franco will pick up the mount and break from post 2.

"She's coming into this race pretty well," Abreu said. "Once she breaks, she puts herself back there and it seems like she needs an eighth of a mile to find herself. I'd like to see her forwardly placed or mid-pack and come with one run, but we'll [see]. I think Manny will be a good fit for her."

Another Broad, who earned a personal-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure for running second to Golden Award in the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm on November 2 at Aqueduct, will look to win her first graded stakes. Owned by Madaket Stables, Elayne Stables and Brian Martin, Another Broad will again run at the same track in which she won her only previous stakes, the Top Flight Invitational on April 13, when she rallied from last of six to win the 1 1/8-mile contest.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Another Broad has continued to train at Belmont, working four furlongs in 50.59 seconds on Sunday over the training track. She will have Eric Cancel in the irons on Saturday, leaving from post 4.

"She's doing well. We thought she came off one of her best efforts last time out, so we're excited to get her going," Pletcher assistant Byron Hughes said. "We expect her to run well."

Saguaro Row, who won her first stakes last out with a 4 ¼-length victory in the Pumpkin Pie on November 9 at Aqueduct, will make her first graded stakes appearance since running seventh in the Grade 2 Presque Isle Downs Masters on September 16. Trained by Michael Stidham, the 4-year-old Union Rags filly will break from post 5 with Joel Rosario aboard.

Needs Supervision, another last-out stakes winner via her 3 ¼-length win in the Safely Kept on November 30 at Laurel, will also be going for her second consecutive win. Trained by Jeremiah O'Dwyer, the 3-year-old daughter of Paynter will pick up the services of jockey Jose Ortiz, drawing post 1.

Our Super Nova, a state-bred who won the NYSSS Staten Island last out, building on a runner-up finish in the Empire Distaff Handicap on October 19 at Belmont. The Charlton Baker trainee is 2-2-1 in her last five starts and will make her graded stakes debut with Junior Alvarado aboard from post 6.

Inaugurated in 1954 at Belmont Park as the Maskette Stakes in honor of the Hall of Fame filly, Maskette, the race was renamed for Hall of Famer Go for Wand, the race's 1990 winner. Go for Wand, who tallied 10 wins in 13 starts from 1989-90, including the 1989 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and seven Grade 1s. Go for Wand is buried in the infield at Saratoga Race Course.

First post Saturday is 11:30 a.m. Gates will open to the public at 10:30 a.m.