Belmont Oaks: May Day Ready faces an uphill climb at Saratoga

May Day Ready seemingly had everything go her way for most of her 2-year-old campaign, rattling off victories in each of her first three starts before closing powerfully to place second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Little has gone her way since then, however, leaving her to face an uphill climb in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational, part of the July 4th racing festival at Saratoga.

“I still have the confidence and faith in her that I had last year,” trainer Joe Lee said. But he was quick to say of the Belmont Oaks, “May Day will have her work cut out for her.”

The daughter of Tapit is coming off two sub-par outings. Lee made a bold and uncommon decision with the approval of owner Larry Doyle of KatieRich Stables to run her in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies in Kyoto after her strong Breeders’ Cup effort.

“When you have a horse doing that well, you’ve got to take a chance,” Lee said, adding that he does not regret the ambitious attempt.

Until that day, May Day Ready had handled everything thrown at her with aplomb. She had broken her maiden at first asking at Saratoga on Aug. 4, then prevailed in the Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Kentucky Downs before successfully stepping up to graded-stakes company in taking a three-way photo in the Jessamine (G2) at Keeneland. Even in her first defeat, she had no problem with her first travel to the West Coast in running a game second to stellar Lake Victoria in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar.

According to Lee, she handled the journey to Japan as well as he thought she would. He did not anticipate that she would go in season, and he believes that greatly contributed to her dismal 13th-place finish.

Lee planned to use the Edgewood (G2) at Churchill Downs as her comeback race and a prep for the Belmont Oaks. She was not quite ready for that seasonal debut and wound up running in a less-than-ideal spot, in the off-the-turf Wonder Again on June 7 on a sloppy, sealed track at Saratoga.

Other than a $36,000 payday for splashing home last of three in what Doyle called a “paid workout,” not much good came from that afternoon. Although Lee agreed with jockey Frankie Dettori’s decision to wrap up on her when the hopelessness of her cause was clear, it is uncertain how much she got out of her first race in half a year.

“You do want a race to benefit the horse. As far as getting what I would truly have liked to have gotten out of the race, not exactly,” Lee admitted. “I don’t think we did get what we wanted to get out of her in the race. But at least it was something, back to the races, back to the paddock, back to the starting gate.”

The trainer estimated that he got only 60 to 70 percent of what he needed to get out of the Wonder Again, which was downgraded to Grade 3 status afterward. Nitrogen ran off with the Wonder Again by 17 lengths, extending her record this season to 5-for-5.

May Day Ready and Dettori drew post 6 in a field of seven for the Belmont Oaks and will start just to the inside of Nitrogen. She drilled four furlongs in 49.12 seconds on June 29, ranking 33rd of 124 workers at the distance that morning in her final tune-up for the Oaks.

Lee said of the youngster’s transition from 2 to 3, “She’s definitely grown. She’s still not big and robust. She has filled out. She does have more muscle mass to her. She’s a solid filly.”

Given events of late, Lee is concerned about the readiness of May Day Ready. He wishes certain things had gone very differently.

“She’s as good as I think we’re going to get her under the circumstances,” he said, recognizing the stiffness of the challenge ahead.