Sunday Girl and Intentious contest Saturday’s NYSSS Staten Island

• Sunday Girl and Intentious contest Saturday’s NYSSS Staten Island
• West Point Thoroughbreds enjoys 3-for-3 week at Aqueduct Racetrack
• Fast Market headlines rescheduled Grade 3 Pebbles; Nice as Pie leads rescheduled $150K Forever Together

Trainer David Duggan will send out the talented pair of multiple stakes-winner Sunday Girl [post 7, Flavien Prat] and five-time winner Intentious [post 6, Joel Rosario] in Saturday’s $125,000 Staten Island division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series, a seven-furlong sprint for eligible New York-sired fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Mitre Box Stable, Clear Stars Stable and Eighth Note Stable’s Sunday Girl arrives from a prominent 2 1/2-length fourth in the 6 1/2-furlong state-bred Iroquois on October 25 here, a race that saw millionaires Sterling Silver and My Mane Squeeze finish first and third, respectively, after dropping in from graded events.

In the Iroquois, Sunday Girl tracked the pace, took over through the half-mile in 45.31 seconds and led by 1 1/2 lengths at the stretch call before being caught and weakening. The 4-year-old Central Banker filly earned a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure in defeat.

“I thought she ran huge, against some exceptionally good fillies,” Duggan said. “If she can run back to that number, or that kind of race, I think she’ll be very tough. This is a good spot and she’s coming into it well.”

Sunday Girl has won 7-of-12 career starts but has only stretched her speed successfully to 6 1/2-furlongs thus far with a three-length victory in the local NYSSS Park Avenue last April as part of a four-win sophomore campaign.

“The seven furlongs is always a question mark, it is not her strongest suit, but I think she is in a better place mentally and physically right now, if she is going to do it,” Duggan said. “A year on from last year, I think she is just in a better place. She bounced out of her last race very good and I can’t fault her.”

Sunday Girl, bred in the Empire State by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds and Spruce Lane Farm, showed her versatility with stakes scores this year in the local six-furlong Correction versus open company in March ahead of a 2 1/4-length win in the six-furlong John Hettinger against fellow state-breds in her turf debut on June 29 here.

Windylea Farm’s New York homebred Intentious, a 4-year-old Solomini dark bay, will make her stakes debut off a rallying neck score in a seven-furlong state-bred allowance on October 26 here.

“Intentious is going to be rolling late,” said Duggan. “That’s her thing. I thought because she is eligible for the stallion stakes, this is a nice opportunity. It looks like there will be plenty of pace in front, so we’ll see. She is doing fantastic, in a great cycle of form, so if there’s a weakness with my other filly in front, the other one will be rolling late – is she good enough? I’m not sure yet.”

Intentious, who has rallied to win two of her last four starts with a pair of seconds, has not posted a timed breeze since before her last race, but Duggan said that is by design.

“We do alternative works with her, what we call strong gallops with a finish,” Duggan said. “She is in good form, she has worked, just not official works for the clockers. Both horses are in great order.”

The NYSSS Staten Island goes as Race 4 on Saturday’s 10-race card, which also features the $125,000 NYSSS Thunder Rumble in Race 1. First post is 11:40 a.m. Eastern.

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West Point Thoroughbreds enjoys 3-for-3 week at Aqueduct Racetrack

Last week, owner West Point Thoroughbreds went 3-for-3 with their runners at Aqueduct Racetrack for a memorable week that included a pair of stakes wins from the New York-bred She’s Country in the $125,000 Key Cents and Ohana Honor in the Listed $150,000 Knickerbocker.

“It’s been amazing, and kudos to our partners, trainers and staff,” said Jason Blewitt, Executive Vice President of West Point Thoroughbreds. “We’re humming along like a well-oiled machine – we had a great Saratoga, and this fall has exceeded expectations.”

The streak kicked off last Wednesday in Race 5 with a debut victory from the New York-bred sophomore Rhyton in a $50,000 state-bred maiden claiming tilt sprinting six furlongs over the outer turf. Trained by Miguel Clement and co-owned by Backstretch Seven Racing and breeder Fred Hertrich, III, the son of Kantharos stalked in sixth early and pounced to the 1 1/4-length score under Manny Franco in a final time of 1:10.53.

A $75,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Preferred New York-bred Yearling Sale, Rhyton is out of the winning Broken Vow mare Unlimited Resource, a half-sister to Grade 1-placed Off Topic.

“The partners that are in on him deserve that win,” Blewitt said. “There was a lot of stopping and starting for various reasons in terms of getting him to the starting gate, but through it all, Miguel had always said this horse could run, and he had him healthy and properly spotted. He got a great ride and came out of the race in great shape.”

On Thursday, She’s Country notched her first stakes score for trainer George Weaver in the one-mile state-bred Key Cents over the inner turf, racing just off the pace under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano and rallying in the lane to get up just in time between foes and nail Cosmic Candy Girl by a head in a final time of 1:38.70.

Co-owned by James Politano and LVD Racing, the Combatant dark bay was bred by Twin Oaks Bloodstock and was purchased for $80,000 from the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. She was a debut winner in August at Saratoga Race Course with a six-length romp in a 1 1/16-mile state-bred turf maiden.

Blewitt said She’s Country is now likely to try dirt in the seven-furlong $500,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series on December 6 at the Big A.

“She’s been superb – we bought her at OBS for a pretty modest price and she’s just been awesome,” Blewitt said. “She showed all that determination and how tough she is the other day. We’ll take a shot with her in the Stallion Series race. George feels she’s not going to have an issue with the dirt.”

Saturday’s card saw the dual graded stakes-placed Ohana Honor land an elusive stakes victory in his ninth attempt, taking the nine-furlong Knickerbocker by 2 1/4 lengths with a three-wide rally under Flavien Prat to stop the clock in 1:48.23 over the firm outer turf course for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.

“It looked like on paper he was the horse to beat, but until they do it, you always worry,” Blewitt said. “Flavien rode him to perfection and the horse absolutely dominated. I still think he’s got another level or two that we haven’t seen yet. It’s a testament to our company’s ethos in terms of the horses coming first, but it’s also a credit to Shug and his team to have a soon-to-be 6-year-old that I think is just coming into his own, even though he’s been good for a long time.”

The win came in his third start this year, improving from a second in the restricted Listed Tapit in August at Kentucky Downs and a fourth in the Grade 2 Sycamore in October at Keeneland. Last year, the 5-year-old son of Honor Code earned a Grade 1 placing with a dead heat for third in the Resorts World Casino Manhattan at Saratoga Race Course.

Blewitt said a potential target for Ohana Honor is the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational on January 24 at Gulfstream Park, where they could also have Cugino, winner of the Big A’s Grade 2 Red Smith on November 2.

“He and Cugino and a few other horses are heading to Payson Park, and there’s a pretty extensive turf marathon series at Gulfstream,” Blewitt said. “The Pegasus is potentially on the table for Ohana Honor assuming he gets invited. Cugino will run in the Fort Lauderdale as a prep, and Ohana Honor deserves to have a conversation about running in the Pegasus.”

Ohana Honor, co-owned by Woodford Racing, Edward Hudson, Jr. and Lynne Hudson, was a $430,000 purchase at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and has banked $636,397 through a 19-4-5-3 record.

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Fast Market headlines rescheduled Grade 3 Pebbles; Nice as Pie leads rescheduled $150K Forever Together

The Grade 3, $175,000 Pebbles and the $150,000 Forever Together were originally scheduled for last Sunday, November 16, but were rescheduled for Sunday, November 23 as that card was canceled following Race 2 at Aqueduct Racetrack due to high winds.

The Pebbles, originally carded at one-mile on the inner turf, will be run at 1 1/16-miles on the outer turf. The re-drawn main body includes all six of the original sophomore fillies and a pair of additions, including Sweet Treasure for dual Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox and Starship Pegasus for conditioner Michelle Nevin. The field adds main track-only entrant With the Angels.

Hit The Bid Racing Stable’s Fast Market [post 1, Flavien Prat] has been on the improve and headlines the group for trainer John Terranova. The Volatile bay enters from a closing neck second to Ready for Candy in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Sands Point on October 18 at Belmont at the Big A.

Fast Market went off at odds of 7-1 in the Sands Point following a ninth-out graduation going one mile on September 21 here. There, Fast Market, running with blinkers off, closed to a 2 1/4-length victory versus elders, earning an 82 Beyer Speed Figure, which she improved to a career and co-field-best 85 in her last-out second.

Rounding out the Pebbles field in post position order are Correto [post 2, Jaime Rodriguez], Starship Pegasus [post 3, Javier Castellano], It Ain’t Two [post 4, John Velazquez], Paradise City [post 5, Manny Franco], Sweet Treasure [post 6, Florent Geroux], Love You Anyway [post 7, Jose Lezcano] and Peak Hype [post 8, Ricardo Santana, Jr.].

The $150,000 Forever Together, a 1 1/16-mile outer turf test for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, has been re-drawn with six of the seven original main body entrants, plus the addition of Racing Colors for trainer Norman Follett. The lone defector from the main body was Sirona for trainer Graham Motion.

Dede McGehee’s Kentucky homebred Nice as Pie [post 2, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] will look to continue a strong run of form for trainer Kelsey Danner, who has won with two of her four stakes starters this fall at Aqueduct.

The 4-year-old daughter of Tapiture enters from a 2 1/4-length third to Candy Reward in the one-mile and 70-yard H.B.P.A on October 6 over the synthetic at Presque Isle Downs. The effort came in her furthest race to date, and at a distance beyond sprinting for the third time in her career.

Nice as Pie posted a productive campaign last season, beginning with four consecutive wins sprinting over the Turfway Park Tapeta, including stakes wins in the Valdale and Serena’s Song. She stretched out to one mile again last October for a distant off-the-board finish in the Grade 2 Valley View at Keeneland, but rebounded to post four straight on-the-board efforts at Turfway, which encompassed her most recent win in a February optional claimer sprinting six furlongs.

Completing the rescheduled Forever Together field in post position order are Racing Colors [post 1,Trevor Simpson], Miss Bonnie T [post 3, Christopher Elliott], Spinning Colors [post 4, John Velazquez], Oversubscribed [post 5, Flavien Prat], Malleymoo [post 6, Manny Franco] and Flowers for Me [post 7, Javier Castellano].

Original main track-only entrants St. Benedicts Prep, Bernietakescharge and Tipple have been re-entered for the main track-only.

The Forever Together is slated for Race 4, with the Pebbles in Race 8 on Sunday’s nine-race card. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern.