My Miss Aurelia Finally Runs Monday

My Miss Aurelia, the 2011 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly, will make her first start in 16 months in the $100,000 Shine Again on Monday.

The seven-furlong Shine Again for fillies and mares attracted a tough field of six which also includes Grade 1 winners Grace Hall and Better Lucky and recent My Juliet Stakes heroine Bridgehampton.

The Shine Again also will be My Miss Aurelia's first start for trainer Todd Pletcher. While in the barn of Steve Asmussen, the Stonestreet Stable homebred posted Grade 1 wins in the 2011 Frizette, 2011 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, and 2012 Grade 1 Cotillion. In her final start for Asmussen, she was third in the Grade 3 Azeri in March 2013 at Oaklawn.

"Timing-wise, [the Shine Again] looked like the right kind of race," said Pletcher. "I felt like seven furlongs suited her better than the [Grade 2, six-furlong] Honorable Miss would have. As far as the race coming up tough, you can pretty much expect that at Saratoga. She has been training well, and, hopefully, she runs back to her 2- and 3-year-old form."

My Miss Aurelia was in Pletcher's barn last summer but went to the sidelines after shedding a frog.

"What we thought would be a minor issue turned out to be an issue that took a long time to be corrected, so, here we are," said Pletcher.

Pletcher also said Fashion Alert, winner of the Grade 3 Schuylerville, emerged from yesterday's race in good shape.