Banree, My Awesome Mom meet in Margate

The opportunity to become a stakes winner before the calendar turns to 2017 awaits nine 3-year-old fillies entered in Monday’s $60,000 Margate, the feature on a 11-race program that gets underway at noon.

The Margate, for runners who have never captured a sweepstakes, will be contested at seven furlongs. Among the field is Banree, who nearly pulled off her first stakes win when she was a 2-year-old.

The Wesley Ward-trained Banree, like many of the horses who herald from that barn, was quick to impress during her juvenile campaign. In her career debut, the daughter of Macho Uno rambled to a four-length victory at Keeneland to open her 2-year-old season.

Owned by Mark Dodson, Banree went on to post a runner-up finish in the Schuylerville (G2) at Saratoga Race Course and later was third in the Tempted (G3) at Aqueduct.

She is still looking for her first win of 2016, but ran well to finish second off a layoff in her most recent start in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance optional claimer at Churchill Downs last month.

“She kind of fell off form a little bit and we gave her time,” Ward said in reference to the filly’s mid-May to mid-November break. “She’s a big filly who has grown into her frame and the owner has been very patient in giving her some time to come into herself.” 

Ward had hoped to bring Banree back to action at Keeneland’s fall meet, but she popped a splint and although it was a minor issue, her return was delayed to Nov. 13.

“She ran a really creditable race that day,” Ward said. “The seven furlongs here is a little bit of a question . . . it might be a little bit too far. But speed carries at Gulfstream, so if she is going to do it anywhere, she’s going to do it there.”

Tyler Gaffalione will ride Banree from post No. 8.

My Awesome Mom, trained by Dave Kassen for Alters Racing Stable, enters the Margate in excellent form. After a 4 1/2-length score in a September maiden race at Gulfstream Park in her seventh career start, My Awesome Mom returned to easily win a first-level allowance race at Gulfstream Park West in November. 

Those wins represented her initial starts for Kassen, who said the daughter of Awesome Again had a change of attitude after winning her first race for him.

“She was kind of skinny and had a bad attitude,” Kassen said. “We just got her doing better.”

Emisael Jaramillo has the return call from post 5.