By Joe Quillen
Aqueduct Race 6 – Memories of Silver Stakes
Happy Sunday everyone for the Sunday edition of Quills Picks Winners as we head back east to Aqueduct as our race today will be the Memories of Silver Stakes, which is a one-mile race on the Aqueduct inner turf course. They have two courses there inside the main track if you never knew. These three-year-old fillies will head to the gate at approximately 4:04 pm Eastern time, and if you want to watch the race live, it will be broadcast live on FS2.
One note here before I get to the handicapping of this race. This race should be on the turf. I don’t think it rained much or at all today, though my weather app on my iPhone was saying it was supposed to rain. The 9 Camera (8/5 morning line) will be scratched because he is entered as a main track only entrant. Unless I totally missed the weather in Queens and at Aqueduct, there’s no reason the race would be moved to the main track. If for whatever reason it is on the main track, ignore everything I say after this paragraph and play the 9 ($20 to win if this happens).
But I am handicapping the race as if this stays on the turf, and the favorite on the turf is the 2 Sweet Rebecca (9/5 ML). She had a horrible start in her debut race at Gulfstream Park last month. She checked up at the start of the race because the filly next to her swerved out. She settled down and came flying on the final turn and down the stretch and won under an extremely confident ride. She’s also coming up from Florida, and usually the horses coming up from Florida to the Northeast and mid-Atlantic transition very well. This is a very dangerous filly that will be tough to beat here today at Aqueduct.
The 4 Miss Mottley (3/1 ML) debuted with a win at Tampa Bay Downs last month and you could say that this filly is the “other Chad Brown” trained horse in this race. I imagine that she might be closer to the pace than Sweet Rebecca here, but will the favorite be closer if she gets out of the gate cleanly? Very interesting questions here for this Aqueduct race.
The 5 Living Magic (5/1 ML) gets class relief after running in the Grade 2 Appalachian at Keeneland at the beginning of the month. Her trouble line looks like the novel War and Peace. She was squeezed at the start. She checked hard with seven furlongs to go and then when she finally was ready to launch her move at the top of the stretch, she got cut off and had to check again. If you are a handicapper who loves to play horses who had trouble in their previous race, this is the dream horse for this handicapping angle.
The 1 Curlin’s Girl (6/1 ML) draws the rail here after winning an off the turf race that ended up on the Tapeta at Gulfstream Park. She will be ready to fire here and might need to make some room off the rail in the stretch.
This race here at Aqueduct is Sweet Rebecca’s to win or lose. I don’t think it is an accident that there was a private sale of this horse and a change of trainers to Chad Brown. This filly could be a major factor in the three-year-old filly division. I think she wins this at a short price. I’ll call this 2-5-4-1 and my play is $20 to win on the 2. Good luck everyone!
QPW Update Desk
- I did have one winner on Saturday’s “Also Eligible” show as Uncorked won the Royal Heroine by 2 lengths as an opening on the rail opened as if the Red Sea parted. Dream trip for this mare.
- The 2 Lammas won the San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields in a thrilling stretch drive, paying $21.60 to win. Front runner Air Force Red finished second while my selection Balnikhov closed to finish third with a rail trip.
- On Monday’s Quills Picks Winners, I will take a look at Parx’s Big 5 (aka Pick 5) mandatory distribution. There is a carryover of $176,026.11 into the final five races of the Monday Parx card. Note that the Big 5 wager is usually a jackpot wager where you have to hold the only winning ticket, but in a mandatory payout, the pot will be shared by all the winners of the sequence.
- The Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby were drawn on Saturday unbeknownst to me. I’ll have details and give initial thoughts on the 14 entrants plus 3 also eligibles for next Friday’s Oaks and the 20 that will Run for the Roses in the Derby.
- Next Saturday’s “Also Eligible” will be live from 8 to 10 am as we will look at the Kentucky Derby and possibly other races on the Derby Day card. Check Sports Radio 102.9 The Game’s app and the Bleacher Brothers outlets (Twitch, X, YouTube) as AJ and I will break down the race as only two Bleacher Brothers could!