May Day Ready leads 10 turf fillies in Winter Memories

May Day Ready looks to double up on graded scores in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Winter Memories, a one-mile inner turf tilt for sophomore fillies at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by Joe Lee for owner KatieRich Stables, the daughter of Tapit enters from a half-length victory in the Lake Placid (G2) on August 23 at Saratoga where she set the pace for the first time in her eighth career start.

Click here for Belmont at Aqueduct entries and results.

Piloted by Jose Ortiz in the Lake Placid, May Day Ready led through splits of 24.51, 49.16 and 1:13.39 over the firm footing as Eponine tracked in second and last-out pacesetting stakes-winner Scarlet Sands stalked in third. May Day Ready had a two-length lead at the stretch call and dug in through the lane to fend off the rallying Play With Fire by a half-length in a final time of 1:35.70. May Day Ready earned a career-best 85 Beyer Speed Figure from Daily Racing Form for the victory.

“I was really happy to see her come back and win there, and being on the lead wasn’t too much of a surprise to me,” Lee said. “I thought if Scarlet Sands didn’t go and Eponine didn’t go, and should Jose ask her to get up there, I thought she’d go on with it. I wasn’t hoping she’d be on the lead, but I was glad to see her run the way she did.”

May Day Ready has made three starts this year, all at Saratoga, beginning with an uninvolved last-of-3 in an off-the-turf edition of the Wonder Again (G3) in June. She returned to turf in July in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational where she rallied from last-of-7 under returning rider Frankie Dettori to come up four lengths shy of the winning Fionn and nose runner-up Nitrogen.

The race came back live. Winner Fionn came back to win the Dueling Grounds Oaks (G3) at Kentucky Downs. Second-place Nitrogen switched back to dirt and won the Alabama (G1) in her next outing.

Lee said the Belmont Oaks was essentially May Day Ready’s first start of this campaign after her Wonder Again non-performance.

“I thought she ran well in the Belmont Oaks in what I considered her first race of the year since she didn’t get much out of the Wonder Again,” Lee said. “She was fourth in the Belmont Oaks only beaten four lengths to Fionn and Nitrogen, so it was a decent effort.”

Last year, May Day Ready posted a 5: 3-1-0 campaign that was highlighted by her first graded-stakes win in the Jessamine (G2) at Keeneland en route to a deep-closing second to Lake Victoria in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar. She closed out her campaign with a trip to Japan to finish off the board in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1).

Lee said he has noticed encouraging physical developments in May Day Ready not just from 2-to-3, but over this summer as well.

“Just over the last month, she’s kind of lengthened and grew in height,” Lee said. “She’s filled out, but she’s like a kid growing taller. She’s a May foal, so that comes into play, but horses from (ages) 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 go through those growth stages and I think she’s hitting one now.”

Following the Lake Placid, Lee had considered running May Day Ready in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) on Oct. 11 at Keeneland, but opted for the Winter Memories as May Day Ready has trained forwardly in recent weeks.

“I left that up to Mr. Doyle (Larry, of KatieRich Stables), and I couldn’t say she wasn’t doing well, and this race is back in about month,” Lee said. “He wanted to run here and would have loved to have run in the QEII, but this is how it worked out. There’s the Valley View on Oct. 24 at Keeneland that we’re looking at as well (after the Winter Memories).”

With May Day Ready having proved her adaptability with wins both on the lead and well off it, Lee said he will leave Saturday’s tactics in the capable hands of Dettori as he pilots the filly from post 2.

“He’s ridden her quite a few times and just like I left it up to Jose last time, I’ll leave it up to Frankie to decide where he wants to be in the race,” Lee said.

May Day Ready will again face Raleigh Racing Stable’s Scarlet Sands, who starts from post 8 with Samy Camacho in the saddle. She finished last of six in the Lake Placid after stalking the pace, a change in her pacesetting tactics that netted her the Miss Gracie traveling one mile and 70 yards over the Gulfstream Park synthetic in July for trainer Carlos David.

“The race in Saratoga was very tough, and everyone expected me to be on the lead that day, but everything on the lead was fading earlier in the day and I didn’t want to be the target,” David said. “We ended up taking her back and that wasn’t the way to go. The horse that went to the lead ended up winning the race. This seems to be the logical spot and she’s doing good.”

Scarlet Sands put together a three-race win streak this spring and early summer at Gulfstream, beginning with a sixth-out graduation in a $50,000 maiden claiming tilt going one mile over the turf in April. She followed with a 1 1/4-length optional claiming victory in June over the same course and distance ahead of her Miss Gracie score.

“She was doing everything right and if you want to compete against 3-year-old fillies, you can’t stay in Florida, so we took her north and it’s harder, but she’s done everything right,” David said. “She had to face a tougher field in Saratoga, but it’s something she has to overcome if she’s going to be a stakes filly – she is one already, but this is a Grade 3 and hopefully we can do some damage there.”

Scarlet Sands was a $230,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale and is a half-sister to graded stakes-placed Legadema and stakes-placed Cursor. Her dam, the winning Not For Love mare Scarlet Love, is a half-sister to Grade 1 winners Visionaire and Tara’s Tango and graded stakes-winners Scarlet Strike, Scarlet Fusion and Madison’s Luna.

Lindy Farms’ Ready for Candy, who starts from post 3 under Ricardo Santana Jr., graduated last out in her eighth outing overall, but was an accomplished juvenile when placing in three stakes at Woodbine as a maiden for trainer Michael DePaulo.

The Twirling Candy dark bay was a $400,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky February mixed sale and was moved to the Phil Antonacci barn. She made her first start for her new conditioner a winning one when wiring a nine-furlong turf maiden on August 17 at the Spa, romping by 7 3/4 lengths as the heavy favorite. The effort was awarded a career-best 87 Beyer.

“She kind of impressed us all,” Antonacci said. “She had always trained well, but it was good to see her put it together on the track. I think she is a filly that could have plenty of improvement and she has plenty of confidence, so hopefully we can see a performance like that or a step forward. That would put her in contention in here.

“She showed good gate speed that day. She kind of likes to be left alone,” Antonacci said. “She likes to go out and do her thing. I think she is versatile though. She can come from off the pace. If she needs, she can do that, but her preference is probably to be left alone and do her thing.”

The maiden win marked the first time Ready for Candy had set the pace after seven rallying efforts last year, led by a troubled 1 1/4-length third over Tapeta in the 1 1/16-mile Mazarine (G3) after steadying at the quarter pole and re-rallying bravely to chase home the victorious Somethinabouther. She also finished second in the Catch a Glimpse sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs on the turf and a half-length second in November's restricted Princess Elizabeth at 1 1/16 miles on synthetic in her final effort for DePaulo.

“She is all class. Look at her races from last year, she seemed to always get into trouble through no fault of her own,” Antonacci said. “She kept fighting every time, never used it as an excuse to run bad. I loved her grit, she is a beautiful filly by the right stallion right now, so we had high expectations, but she put it together.”

Five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown has entered a pair of contenders in Stephanie Seymour Brant’s Grade 1-placed Opulent Restraint, who starts from the rail with jockey Manny Franco and Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss and Michael Caruso’s stakes-placed Griselda, who drew post 9 and will be ridden by Flavien Prat.

Opulent Restraint cuts back from a prominent third last out in the 1 3/16-mile Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G2) on Aug. 9 at the Spa where she was second throughout before giving way in the lane and settling for the minor award, 2 1/2 lengths behind victorious and undefeated Laurelin. The Dubawi grey finished three quarters of a length behind Fionn and Nitrogen after setting the pace in the Belmont Oaks and returns to the track where she won the Chelsey Flower in October and finished a neck second in the Memories of Silver in April.

Griselda makes her second stateside outing after a successful first start for Brown with a half-length optional claiming win going this distance on Aug. 6 at the Spa. Ridden by returning pilot Flavien Prat, she was last of seven and 5 1/2 lengths off the early pace before unleashing an impressive rally in the lane and running down Notable Exchange in the final jumps. The win in a final time of 1:36.60 garnered a 77 Beyer.

The France-bred City Light chestnut was a 1 3/4-length second in the Prix Herod sprinting seven furlongs over heavy footing in November at Saint-Cloud in her final start before moving stateside. She holds a 6: 2-2-0 record with $102,694 in earnings.

The Winter Memories is slated as race 8 on Saturday’s 11-race card, which also features the $150,000 Bertram F. Bongard in Race 3. First post is 1:10 p.m. EDT.