Aqueduct | Race 8 | Post Time 4:38 p.m. (ET)
Heavenly Light (#8) figures to take money once again after going favored in 4 of her first 6 starts. She paid a mere $3.10 to win when she broke her maiden against $50k claimers two back against a pretty weak field for the level. She didn’t get much of a speed figure that day, but she seemed to improve significantly off the claim for Brad Cox when she stepped up against winners last time. She did settle for second as the favorite, but she did well to hold onto the runner-up spot while improving her TimeformUS Speed Figure to 87. A repeat of that performance makes her the horse to beat.
Higher Force (#1) finished two lengths behind that rival last time, but she didn’t get an ideal trip. She traveled strongly in behind the leaders and got mildly shuffled back on the far turn before angling to the inside in the stretch, at which point she appeared to get slightly discouraged. She ran pretty well to break her maiden two back, making the first move into a very fast pace and holding on. I still think she has upside second off the claim for George Weaver, and she just needs to work out a slightly better trip.
I prefer a horse coming out of a different race. Ada May (#4) moves up in class off a second-place finish against $25k conditioned claimers last time. Yet she clearly would have beaten that field with a clean start. This filly got off to a disastrous start, stumbling very badly and almost parting ways jockey Christopher Elliott, who lost his irons and was lucky to stay aboard. She found herself far out of position early, a good 15 lengths back at the half-mile pole. Yet she started traveling strongly around the far turn, actually had to pause in some traffic at the three-eighths pole, and then unleashed a furious rally when tipped out in the stretch. She was undoubtedly the best horse on that occasion, and the form of the race was subsequently flattered when third-place finisher Carol Said No came back to win here this week with an improved speed figure. Ada May has to stretch out to a mile here, but she’s bred to get at least this far and has the stride of a horse who shouldn’t mind some added distance.