Saratoga 2024: The Queens M G lines up in Adirondack

The Queens M G will look to double her stakes tally in Sunday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Adirondack Stakes, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for nine 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga.

Owned by C2 Racing Stable and Mathis Stable and trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., the Thousand Words dark bay will make her third Spa start. She finished last of seven as the favorite in the Astoria in June during the Belmont Stakes racing festival. She avenged that performance last out with a stalking score as the 44-1 longest shot on the board in the six-furlong, listed Schuylerville at Saratoga, drawing clear to a 2 3/4-length victory over Sherbini. The winning effort garnered a career-best 73 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form.

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First trained and owned by Israel Acevedo, The Queens M G was bought privately after a memorable April 7 debut at Keeneland. That was where she overcame an awkward start before making the lead through splits of 22.30 and 45.84 seconds. She stayed on stubbornly to score at odds of 45-1 with a final time of 52.44 seconds, outdueling next-out Kentucky Juvenile winner West Memorial by a head.

Joseph said he was relieved to see The Queens M G return to form in the Schuylerville.

“Going into that race I didn’t know what to expect. I was just hoping to run a decent race and have something to build on, but she exceeded expectations,” Joseph said. “That was a big improvement. The race before was disappointing, because she had trained decent into the race, and we thought she was a good filly, and her form had worked out well with the filly she beat first time out (West Memorial) winning a stakes.”

Joseph said the filly bounced out of her stakes score in good order, posting an easy, half-mile breeze in 50.25 seconds Saturday over the Spa main track.

Both of The Queens M G’s scores came from the outermost post 11, and she will have the outside draw once more Sunday when exiting post 9 under returning rider Dylan Davis.

“I don’t think you’d want to put her in a spot where she’s taking dirt, because she hasn’t done that yet, but I think she’s pretty uncomplicated. She can lead, but she doesn’t need the lead,” said Joseph, who will look for his third stakes win of the meet after saddling Spirit Wind to an upset score in the Honorable Miss Handicap (G2) last Wednesday.

The $3,500 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling-sale purchase is out of the Grindstone mare Show Queen. Her third dam is dual graded-stakes winner Parade Queen.

Susan Magnier and Linda Shanahan’s regally bred White Sands, in post 8 with Frankie Dettori, will look to keep her perfect record intact for trainer Wesley Ward.

The Into Mischief bay has shown the way through a pair of 5 1/2-furlong sprints by a combined 23 1/4 lengths. She romped to a 9 1/2-length debut score in May at Belterra Park and followed last out with a 13 3/4-length victory over males in the Prairie Gold Juvenile on July 6 at Prairie Meadows.

White Sands is a half-sister to 2021 champion male sprinter Jackie’s Warrior, who won 5 of 6 starts at Saratoga led by Grade 1 wins in 2020 Hopeful, the 2021 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial, and the 2022 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap. Bred in Kentucky by Newstead Corporation, White Sands is out of the 19-time winning A. P. Five Hundred mare Unicorn Girl, who is a half-sister to graded-stakes-placed Richard the Great, multiple stakes winner Bernie the Maestro and stakes winners Reaper and Turbo.

Italian Soirée, in post 2 with Flavien Prat, will make her stakes debut for owners Hit The Bid Racing Stable, Morplay Racing and Randall Hartley and trainer John Terranova.

The Uncle Mo bay, a $600,000 OBS March sale of 2-year-olds-in-training purchase, notched a 65 Beyer in her winning debut. That was where she veered in at the start and impeded a pair of rivals before chasing the pace five wide up the backstretch of the 5 1/2-furlong sprint July 4 at Belmont at the Big A. Prat asked the bay for her best late in the turn, and the filly responded in kind, taking command inside the three-sixteenths pole and drawing clear to a 5 1/4-length score.

Italian Soirée has breezed back twice, including a half-mile effort working inside 3-year-old New York-bred maiden winner Hagrid’s Flame in 49.77 seconds July 21 over the Saratoga main track.

“She was always a touch ahead of her company. She was doing great,” Terranova said. “I wanted an older horse who was a winner to push her a little bit, just keep her tuned in. She was just kind of playing with him. She is a very nice filly, and you know we are just grateful to have her. She looks like a talented runner.”

Bred in Kentucky by Repole Stable, Italian Soirée is a full sister to stakes-winner Be Better. She is out of the Smart Strike mare Social Call, who is a half-sister to graded-stakes winner Old Time Hockey.

Dream Team One’s Kentucky homebred Anakarina, in post 7 with Tyler Gaffalione, graduated at second asking. She won with a gate-to-wire score in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight June 26 at Churchill Downs that registered a 66 Beyer.

Trained by Dallas Stewart, the Vekoma chestnut’s maiden win avenged a troubled May 17 debut at the Louisville oval, where she broke awkwardly and finished fifth.

Anakarina, out of the winning Tapit mare Tacit Approval, is a half-sister to the Stewart-trained, dual Grade 2-winning millionaire Hoist the Gold, who captured the Cigar Mile Handicap (G2) in December at Aqueduct.

Whatintheliteral, in post 1 with John Velázquez, is also looking for her second Spa stakes win, having posted a game head score over Aoraki to graduate in style in the aforementioned Astoria.

Trained by Jena Antonucci for owners horseOlogy and Craig Steinhart, the Lord Nelson dark bay was fractious in the gate ahead of the Schuylerville and stumbled badly at the break, unseating Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.

Whatintheliteral made her first two starts with rallying efforts in 4 1/2-furlong maiden sprints at Keeneland. They included a fifth-place finish in her April 7 debut won by The Queens M G and a close third April 24 when she came in three-quarters of a lengths behind victorious Tapit First.

She made the lead from the inside post in the Astoria and showed the way through splits of 22.16 and 45.79 seconds with Aoraki applying pressure to her outside in second position. Aoraki came over slightly on Whatintheliteral as the duo straightened away for the stretch run, and the pair engaged in a gritty duel to the wire with Whatintheliteral prevailing. A stewards’ inquiry into the stretch run resulted in no change to the order of finish.

Whatintheliteral worked back five furlongs in 1:01.88 on Friday over the Saratoga main track. Bred in Florida by Antonucci’s Bella Inizio Farm, Whatintheliteral is out of Antonucci-campaigned, New York-bred Freud mare Lilikoi, who is a half-sister to multiple graded-stakes-placed Manchurian High.

Maiden winners Atomic City in post 3 with Luis Sáez riding for trainer Eddie Kenneally, Dare to Breeze in post 4 with Irad Ortiz Jr. up for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, Aguas de Cristal in post 6 with Javier Castellano going for conditioner Jorge Delgado and Jamie Ness-trained Social Fortress in post 5 with Ricardo Santana Jr. round out the field.

The Adirondack is slated as the ninth of Sunday’s 10 races with scheduled post time of 5:45 p.m. EDT.