OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Just as turf racing on this circuit is coming to an end, Oversubscribed is getting her year started.
Oversubscribed, last seen finishing second in the Grade 3 Pebbles Stakes at Aqueduct 54 weeks ago, makes her 4-year-old debut in Sunday’s $150,000 Forever Together Stakes, a race originally scheduled for last Sunday but postponed after that card was canceled following two races due to high winds.
The Forever Together shares billing with the Pebbles Stakes and are the final two turf races to be run at Aqueduct this year.
The Forever Together, which had seven horses last week, has seven again this week, but the field did change slightly. Sirona wasn’t re-entered – she was scratched last week anyway – but the race picked up Racing Colors.
Trainer Chad Brown said Oversubscribed had a serious lung issue that sidelined her until now, but he does feel she has the talent to potentially target the $500,000 Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf on Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park.
“She had some lung issues that I had to get right, but she’s been training really well, she’s been very healthy each and every week,” Brown said. “It’s frustrating getting these higher-end turf horses started at the end of the season. It’s not ideal at all, but she is doing well.”
Oversubscribed won the Wild Applause Stakes here in June 2024 with a strong turn of foot. She was second in the Grade 3 Lake George before finishing sixth behind She Feels Pretty in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland in October 2024.
Brown said that he chose the Forever Together to bring her back because he ran out of time to get her ready for a race like the Matriarch at Del Mar.
Brown does feel he has Oversubscribed fit enough to give a solid effort Sunday.
“Having not run in so long is always a built-in excuse, but she’s been clicking along pretty good. She should be fairly fit,” Brown said.
Brown also entered Malleymoo, who is coming off a runner-up finish in a Keeneland allowance. Brown has had to juggle riding assignments. He is putting Flavien Prat on Oversubscribed and Manny Franco on Malleymoo.
Kelsey Danner, who won the Grade 2 Miss Grillo here in October with Ground Support and the listed Stewart Manor Stakes here Nov. 7 with Map of the Moon, sends out Nice as Pie in the Forever Together. Nice as Pie is coming out of a third-place finish behind Candy Reward in the HBPA Stakes on Oct. 6 at Presque Isle Downs. This will be her first time going 1 1/16 miles. She did finish second, beaten a head, in the 2024 Penn Oaks going one mile.
“I expected her to be a little more forward last time and she wasn’t, she ran an even race,” Danner said. “I do want to try her long on the grass again; her best number came going long on the grass.”
Spinning Colors, a New York-bred stakes winner, looks the primary speed in the field. Miss Bonnie T and Flowers for Me complete the field on turf.
St. Benedicts Prep, Bernietakescharge, and Tipple are entered for the main track only.
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