US Weekend Preview: Plenty of top action at Aqueduct

Groupie Doll is in action in the Cigar Mile

Graeme North takes a look at the best of the weekend Stateside racing...

There is an excellent card at Aqueduct on Saturday when the New York venue hosts four Graded races - the G2 Demoiselle Stakes and the G2 Remsen for juveniles, the G1 Gazelle Stakes for three-year-old fillies and the highlight, the G1 Cigar Mile.
 
The Demoiselle over nine furlongs on the dirt kicks off the Graded action at 14:22 local time, 19:22 GMT. It has attracted seven runners (though Coconut Shrimp who ran here on Thursday on the turf would seem a likely scratch), of whom five won last time out. Emollient and Unlimited Budget make most appeal of that quintet. Emollient recorded  a very fast time when winning a maiden at Belmont in September but the horse she beat then, Brilliant Jewel, was no match for Unlimited Budget here at the start of the month. The step up to a mile from seven furlongs probably wasn't in Brilliant Jewel's favour seeing how she faded into fourth after being clear with the winner (though already held) early in the straight but even so it was hard not to be very impressed by Unlimited Budget in a maiden that was also run in a very quick time. The step up to nine furlongs looks sure to suit and she might be the value if she goes off second favourite as suggested by the Morning Line.
 
Unlimited Budget's trainer Todd Pletcher has a very strong hand in the juvenile department as ever and he also has a good chance of landing the Remsen (14:51, 19:51 GMT) given he saddles three of the 10 runners. His Overanalyze is best in on Timeform ratings, 2lb clear of the first-time-blinkered Vegas No Show but his other runners Micromanage (third-to rated, 5lb behind Vegas No Show) and Delhomme promise to be stronger candidates.

Overanalyze won two of his first three races with the G2 Futurity at Belmont, where he had the subsequent G2 winner Weekend Hideaway back in third, the standout performance but he was a long way below that level when a remote third in the G3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs last time stepping up from six furlongs to a mile and there are big doubts about him reproducing his best form at this even longer trip.

Vegas No Show left his previous form  - two wins in minor races at Delaware  - behind when second to the promising Violence in the G2 Nashua here earlier in the month and given he endured a rough passage in the straight he might well be a bit better than that. Micromanage could easily take a step forward having been thrown in at the deep end second time out in the strongest juvenile race of the season so far, the G1 Champagne at Belmont won by his stable-companion and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Shanghai Bobby, and the fact he started so short in the market that day reflects what a good impression he'd made on his debut at Saratoga.

Delhomme looked a much better horse at a mile last time than at six furlongs previously when winning a maiden at Belmont in easily the fastest time of the four races on the dirt that day but is priced up more on reputation and potential than solid form achievement. Normandy Invasion, who won a maiden here at the start of the meeting by nine lengths, is another who falls broadly into that same category and is another near-certain improver without appealing greatly at his forecast price. Splitting stakes between Vegas No Show and Micromanage looks the way to play this one. 

The Cigar Mile (15:20, 20:20 GMT) is a fascinating contest given that it has surprisingly yet satisfyingly attracted Groupie Doll who was last seen winning the Filly and Mare Sprint at the Breeders' Cup. Groupie Doll has won only two of her five races at a mile or extended mile and hasn't tried the trip since February at Gulfstream when a distant third in a G3, but her rapid rise to prominence this year is almost certainly more to do with the application of blinkers than a drop back to six or seven furlongs and she hasn't yet had the headgear on at this trip. The Morning Line forecast has her priced at 2.6 but she has so much in hand on Timeform ratings - 6lb at the weights over Morning Line second pick Stay Thirsty - that it will be surprising to say the least if that price is available.

Stay Thirsty, who was last seen splitting subsequent Breeders' Cup Classic third Flat Out and winner Fort Larned in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont, promises to find the trip on the sharp side on what is his career swansong unless the pace is a strong one but with no obvious front runner in the lineup, save perhaps for the up-in-class Goldolphin entrant Buffam, that scenario looks unlikely unless he sets the pace himself.  

A muddling pace might not play to Groupie Doll's strengths either given she has run her best races coming from off a strong gallop, but there is little else in the race with a convincing profile (Coil and Jersey Town are both coming off modest efforts at the Breeders' Cup, for example) and the race doesn't appeal from a betting perspective. 

The three horses at the head of the market for the Gazelle (15:49, 20:49 GMT) over nine furlongs - Dance Card, Book Review and My Wandy's Girl -are the three best in on Timeform ratings though not in market order. Dance Card comes here looking for her fourth straight win and there was much to like about her latest wide-margin victory at Belmont over a very useful field not much weaker in all honesty than those rivals she is taking on here.

South American import My Wandy's Girl made a winning debut here last week and might well be better than the 111 rating she recorded that day in view of her impressive if hard-to-assess record back home in top company. Book Review has won three of her last four including a defeat of the reopposing Lady Cohiba last time, admittedly by less than Dance Card had beaten her the time before. Book Review was well held on her previous foray into G1 company but she started a close second choice that day to the 121-rated Contested and in view of her form since probably wasn't right that day. On her overall form she arguably deserves to start slight favourite ahead of Dance Card. 

Recommended bets

1pt win Vegas No Show and Micromanage in the Remsen