With the Angels looks to turn the tables on Hold Your Breath in $135K Correction

Multiple New York-bred stakes-winner With the Angels finished a two-length second to Hold Your Breath in the local Garland of Roses in December, but will look to flip the script on her familiar rival in Sunday’s $135,000 Correction, a six-furlong sprint for older fillies and mares, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Linda Rice, With the Angels put in a solid effort against wire-to-wire winner Hold Your Breath in the six-furlong Garland of Roses on December 7. There, she stalked in second as her rival set splits of 22.93 seconds and 46.07 before ranging up with a challenge at the stretch call to go head-to-head with the pacesetter. A game Hold Your Breath found a bit more in the lane kicked clear to victory in a final time of 1:09.76, while With the Angels kept on well for the minor awards, equaling a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

The consistent With the Angels has never missed the board in eight outings, and enters from a stalk-and-pounce 3 1/2-length score on January 22 sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs in a local optional claimer under returning rider Jose Lezcano, who guided her through a three-wide move in the turn to draw clear down the lane and post the strong victory in a final time of 1:17.68.

Rice said that while With the Angels has shown adaptability in her running style, she likely prefers a more patient approach.

“I think she likes a fast pace in front of her and a target, but you don’t always get that, and sometimes she finds herself on the lead by default,” Rice said. “I think she prefers to sit off of it and make a run.”

The Omaha Beach 4-year-old won her first four starts, including a trio of state-bred stakes around one turn here as a juvenile when wiring the seven-furlong Joseph A. Gimma and the one-mile Maid of the Mist before a stalking score in the six-furlong Key Cents. She was away from the races for almost one year before returning in October with a 2 1/2-length allowance score over course and distance in her first effort versus open company.

Rice said she is hoping to use the Correction as a bridge to the seven-furlong Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff on April 4 at the Big A.

“She’s doing well and I think this will be a good steppingstone for her,” Rice said. “I would like to go from here to the Grade 3 Distaff and get some graded type behind her name.”

Campaigned by Winning Move Stable, John C. Oxley, Lady Sheila Stable, Silverwood Stables and Sanford H. Robbins, With the Angels has posted three works over the Belmont Park training track since her last effort, most recently covering a half-mile in 49.49 seconds on Sunday.

With the Angels was a $350,000 purchase at the 2024 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training where she worked in 9.4. Bred by Joseph DeRico, she is out of the winning Pulpit mare Sister Margaret, who also produced stakes-placed Maggy’s Palace. Her second dam is the multiple stakes-winning Disco Rico mare Dance Gal Dance, who won 6-of-9 starts led by four New York-bred stakes wins.

Lezcano looks to engineer a winning trip from the outermost post 7.

Main Line Racing Stable and Avalon Racing’s Hold Your Breath earned a lifetime best 94 Beyer for her Garland of Roses victory, and looks to rebound as she returns to the scene of her lone stakes victory for trainer John Servis. 

Last out, the 4-year-old McKinzie filly finished a distant last-of-6 as the mutuel favorite in a six-furlong handicap on January 17 at Laurel Park, where she carried a field-high 124 pounds versus the 119 pounds carried by the victorious Passage East. She set a pressured pace under Abner Adorno before being overtaken entering the stretch and fading in the final eighth. 

Hold Your Breath made her first two starts on dirt before five consecutive outings on turf and synthetic, yielding one win sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs in June at Saratoga Race Course. She followed with a string of distant losses, but rebounded strongly when switched back to dirt for a 9 3/4-length romp sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs facing optional claiming company in November at Parx Racing ahead of the Garland of Roses.

Bred in Kentucky by Highclere, Inc., Constance Wickes and Rocky Top Racing, Hold Your Breath was a $135,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale and is out of the Midnight Lute mare Illicit Affair, whose dam is Hall of Famer Silverbulletday.

Kendrick Carmouche picks up the mount from post 1.

Mitre Box Stable, Clear Stars Stable and Eighth Note Stable’s New York-bred Sunday Girl [post 6, Katie Davis] will look to successfully defend her title after winning last year’s Correction by a nose.

Trained by David Duggan, the 5-year-old Central Banker mare has three stakes wins on her resume, including the local 6 1/2-furlong NYSSS Park Avenue as a sophomore and the six-furlong state-bred John Hettinger over the Big A turf in June for her most recent victory. She hit the board in one of her five efforts since, and enters from a troubled fourth in the Garland of Roses where she was bumped at the start and steadied when in tightly with foes in the early stages.

“She’s good and hopefully she’s ready off a bit of a layoff,” Duggan said. “In her last race, she got in a bit of trouble and has been banging heads with some really good fillies. She ran a good race and just got a bad trip – I don’t think I was going to beat the top two, but she might have been third.”

Sunday Girl’s works over the Belmont training track include a sharp half-mile in 47.72 on February 19 for the second-fastest time of 58 workers at that distance on the day. On February 12, she posted a bullet half-mile in 46.60 for the best of 70 works.

“She’s working good enough to basically be right there,” Duggan said. “I don’t see any regression.”

Bred by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds and Spruce Lane Farm, Sunday Girl was a $100,000 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale and is out of the winning Harlan’s Holiday mare Lady Daphne, making her a half-sister to Sunday Boy, winner of the $500,000 NYSSS Great White Way in December here.

Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable and Gary Barber’s Lucille Ball [post 4, Manny Franco] brings a field-best 103 Beyer earned for a 10 1/4-length trouncing of a local 6 1/2-furlong allowance on January 2 here, setting the pace under returning rider Manny Franco and widening her margin at every point of call to score in a final time of 1:17.27. The effort came off a more than one-year layoff dating to a 5 1/4-length debut victory in November 2024 here over that same distance.

Trained by Chris Englehart, the 4-year-old Kentucky-bred Lord Nelson chestnut seeks to rebound from a distant last-of-4 in the seven-furlong Interborough on February 6 here when she lost almost all chance after a slow start left her last from the gate. She has posted one work since, covering a half-mile in 48.62 over the Belmont training track on Sunday.

Completing the field are stakes-winners On Command [post 5, Jaime Rodriguez] for trainer Amelia Green and Alani [post 3, Andy Hernandez] for trainer Michael Moore; and dual stakes-placed My Lil Punky [post 2, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for trainer Cherie DeVaux.

The Correction is slated as Race 7 on Sunday’s eight-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern. 

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