Aqueduct Opens With Turnback The Alarm

Thoroughbred racing returns to Aqueduct Racetrack Friday afternoon with the simulcast of Day 1 of the Breeders' Cup and the 16th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Turnback the Alarm Handicap for fillies and mares headlining the eight-race live card.

Tiz Miz Sue, most recently third to Ask the Moon in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga Race course, returns to action as the 6-5 morning-line favorite for the 1 1/8-mile Turnback the Alarm, which will be run as the fourth race on the card, with a special first-race post time of 1:15 p.m.

The 4-year-old daughter of Tiznow will be bidding for her first graded stakes victory and will face four other fillies and mares also seeking their first graded stakes score.

"She's won stakes, but not a graded stakes, so we've been pointing to this since Saratoga," said trainer Steve Hobby of Tiz Miz Sue, who prior to the Personal Ensign had finished third in the Grade 1 Ruffian at the Spa and second to Havre de Grace in the Grade 3 Obeah Stakes at Delaware Park. "She ran three really hard races in a row, and I don't like to have them run that hard, and not win. She's had some time off since the Personal Ensign, and she's doing just super."

Jockey Rosie Napravnik, who finished third in the 2009-10 inner track season at the Big A, will make her first appearance at Aqueduct since April, 2010, aboard Tiz Miz Sue, from the rail. Napravnik, who is scheduled to ride in all eight live races on Friday, returned to action two weeks ago after missing three months with a broken wrist.

"She ran really well for Rosie the one time," said Hobby of the duo, who teamed up to win the Polly's Jet stakes a year ago at Delaware Park. "It's certainly not going to hurt."

Second choice at 7-5 on the morning line is the Bill Mott-trained Arena Elvira, who has been no worse than third in 10 lifetime starts. The 4-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper comes off back-to-back victories at the Spa for her Hall of Fame trainer, taking the Madame Jumel and the Sightseek overnight stakes.

Junior Alvarado rides Arena Elvira, who drew post position 3.

Another Hall of Fame-trained horse, Go Unbridled, enters the Turnback the Alarm off a 1 ½-length victory in the off-the-turf John Hettinger at Belmont Park on September 25, earning Allen Jerkens his first stakes win of the year. The 4-year-old New York-bred daughter of Unbridled Jet has been a consistent performer this year, compiling a record of 3-1-4 from eight starts in 2011.

"She came out of the John Hettinger really well," said Fernando Abreu, Jerkens' assistant. "We're taking a shot in a graded stakes, but it is a small field, so we are hoping for the best."

Jose Espinoza will ride Go Unbridled, 8-1 on the morning line, from post position 4.

Completing the field are Banker's Buy, another New York-bred mare trained by Hall of Famer Nick Zito who was fourth in last year's Turnback the Alarm, and Check Point, a 13 ¼-length winner of the off-the-turf starter handicap at Belmont Park on October 20.

The field for the $100,000 Turnback the Alarm: