OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Whit Beckman believes added distance and better preparation can help Nycon turn the tables on Paradise when the two 3-year-old fillies meet for the second straight race in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct.
Paradise defeated Nycon by 3 3/4 lengths in the Busher, a one-turn mile run here Feb. 28. Nycon was coming off a second-place finish in the Cash Run Stakes at Gulfstream Park on New Year’s Day and had gotten sick shortly after that race. As a result, Nycon worked just twice in the month leading up to the Busher.
“She ran really well,” Beckman said. “That track was [favoring] speed all day, and she ran a really good race.”
Beckman noted that Nycon galloped out far ahead of the field post-race.
Following the Busher, Beckman sent Nycon to Turfway Park, where she breezed once over that racetrack’s synthetic surface and once over Keeneland’s main track. The Gazelle, which offers its top five finishers qualifying points (100-50-25-15-10) to the May 1 Kentucky Oaks, is run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns.
“I know this filly wants the distance,” said Beckman, who chose the Gazelle over Friday’s Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland, run at 1 1/16 miles.
Nycon, owned by the Icon Racing Stable headed by former Major League Baseball player Jayson Werth, will break from post 3 under Jaime Torres.
Paradise won the Busher eight weeks after she won a one-mile maiden race at Gulfstream Park by three lengths. Trainer Brad Cox believes the added distance of the Gazelle will not be an issue for this daughter of Gun Runner, owned by NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods.
“She’s a Gun Runner – [distance] should be there. She’s out of a very good mare and her works have been good, her gallop-outs have been solid,” Cox said. “I liked her last run going a mile. She was able to lay close enough. [I’m] thinking at a mile and an eighth, she’ll stay on.”
Manny Franco rides Paradise from the rail.
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Pashmina comes into the Gazelle off a third-place finish in the Sunland Park Oaks, a race in which she was impeded at the eighth pole when eventual winner Bottle of Rouge came out into her path, forcing jockey Cristian Torres to steady his filly. After a lengthy inquiry, the stewards took no action.
“Winner came out four paths and almost took us out,” trainer Rob Atras said. “If Cristian Torres didn’t make that move, we probably would have gone down.”
Pashmina also had trouble when third in the Untapable Stakes in December, where she was squeezed after being passed by eventual winner Hit Parade in the stretch. In between those two races, Pashmina finished fourth in the Silverbulletday Stakes, a race in which she failed to switch leads in the stretch.
“We think she’s a nice filly, training really well. [We] haven’t had a fair trip yet to decide where she belongs,” Atras said.
Ramon Vazquez will ride Pashmina from post 6 on Saturday.
Always a Runner, a daughter of Gun Runner, was a 6 1/2-length debut winner going a mile and 40 yards on Feb. 6 at Tampa. She then got sick and missed some time.
“I thought she was out of consideration for a [Kentucky] Oaks prep until her last couple of works,” trainer Chad Brown said. “She worked excellent. I’m going to take a shot.”
Two Bits, trained by Amelia Green, will stretch out after winning the seven-furlong Ruthless Stakes by a neck. Victory Hall, trained by Tom Morley, won the one-mile Maddie May Stakes for New York-breds, while Hot Gossip, trained by Linda Rice, won a starter allowance by 9 3/4 lengths 15 days after Rice claimed the daughter of Curlin for $75,000.
Baffle, trained by Todd Pletcher for Mike Repole, and Slow Kara, trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. for e Five Racing and Madaket Stables, are both maidens.
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