Aqueduct news: Highway Star gears up for 2018 debut race

Multiple graded-stakes winner Highway Star put in her final breeze on Sunday morning before making her 2018 debut in Saturday's $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The 5-year-old Girolamo mare went four furlongs in 48.89 seconds on the Belmont Park training track in what trainer Rodrigo Ubillo described as a solid work before making her first start since finishing second in the Grade 3 Go for Wand Handicap on December 2 at the Big A.

"She's doing great, she's always happy and feeling good, so we're excited to see her out there," Ubillo said. "This morning, we went a comfortable half [mile], it was just something very easy for her. We don't want to put too much pressure on her. She's fully ready, so we're hoping for something similar to last year. But she's doing great."

Highway Star is coming off a 2017 campaign in which she won three graded stakes - over different distances - and finished second in two others. She captured the Grade 3 Distaff Handicap, contested at seven furlongs, by a half-length over Indulgent on April 9 at Aqueduct and earned a personal-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure for winning the Grade 2 Ruffian, at the Heavenly Prize distance of one mile, on May 13 at Belmont. After running third behind notables Paid Up Subscriber and Songbird in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on Belmont Stakes Day, June 10, Highway Star finished second, by a head, to By the Moon in the Grade 1 Ballerina on August 26 at Saratoga Race Course.

Returning to Belmont, Highway Star rallied to beat Carina Mia by a neck in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom at 6 ½ furlongs before running 11th in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on November 4 at Del Mar. Returning to a mile, she earned an 87 Beyer in the Go for Wand to conclude her impressive 4-year-old campaign.

"She's won over different distances, so I think anything between seven [furlongs] and a mile, she can handle, and she'll have no problem," Ubillo said. "She's a fun horse to train. In the mornings, there's something new, in a good way. Every time we ask her to do something different, she's willing."

Jockey Joe Rocco, Jr. will have the call aboard Highway Star for the first time.

"We've had success with him, so I'm positive," Ubillo said. "We'll take it as it comes. She's a smart horse. She puts herself in the race. If they go too fast, she'll stay a little back, or if they go slow, she'll get there. I'll leave it up to her."

Big Gotham Stakes day ahead