Chelsea Durand Photo

Jody’s Pride tries turf in G3 Pebbles

by Christian Abdo

Parkland Thoroughbreds and Sportsmen Stable’s Grade 1-placed Jody’s Pride returns from a seven-month layoff in Friday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Pebbles, a one-mile inner turf test for sophomore fillies, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trainer Jorge Abreu has had Jody’s Pride pointed to this race for the past month in pursuit of the American Pharoah dark bay’s first graded victory as she switches to turf in her sixth career start.

Jody’s Pride [post 5, Joel Rosario] has not raced since an off-the-board finish in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 Ashland on April 5 at Keeneland. In her lone other start this year, she won the Listed Busher Invitational going a one-turn mile over sloppy and sealed going in March here.

In her juvenile campaign, Jody’s Pride graduated on debut at Saratoga Race Course ahead of a win in the local off-the-turf six-furlong Listed Matron, but her most memorable performance was a neck defeat in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita Park, with the victorious Just F Y I going on to receive Champion 2-Year-Old Filly honors.

Bred by Mr. Steve Weston, of Parkland Thoroughbreds, Jody’s Pride is out of the undefeated Parkland-campaigned Scat Daddy mare Jody’s Song – a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-placed Make Mischief.

Imaginary Stables and Mark Barnhart’s Macanga [post 7, Jose Lezcano] earned a Grade 2 placing last-out when defeated a neck by Spaliday after showing the way in the nine-furlong Sands Point on October 12 here.

Trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. said he was pleased with the American Pharoah bay’s performance where she was nailed late for first but held second by two lengths over Style Points. She was also third here in the one-mile Listed Wild Applause in June.

“Hopefully she runs big again. She loves this grass course and has run big over it a couple of times, so we are going to try to get our last licks in with her,” Dutrow, Jr. said.

Macanga has employed frontrunning tactics in her last five starts, opening up over six lengths on the field in her last outing and 10 lengths before that when fading to ninth in the local 11-furlong Grade 3 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational in September.

Of Macanga’s tendency to run off on the lead, Dutrow, Jr. said, “It is not the way we design it - it is the way she is demanding it. We’d love for her to ease off herself, but she is just not ready to do that yet. We try to tell the jockeys to slow her down as much as they can - we don’t say let’s open up four or five - but she is just not ready to give in.”

Macanga, out of the U S Ranger mare Highway Mary, was a $150,000 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training sale.

Cotton House Racing’s Group 3-placed See You Around [post 3, Dylan Davis] is set for her stateside debut in her first start for conditioner Christophe Clement. The Siyouni bay made her previous nine starts in France for Philippe Sogorb, including a last-out third in the Group 3 Prix de Lieurey F.E.E. going one-mile over firm turf at Deauville.

See You Around prepared for her American debut with a half-mile breeze in 50 seconds flat on November 1 over the Belmont Park dirt training track, which was one week after a five-eighths breeze over Saratoga’s Oklahoma turf in 1:02.25 in company with multiple Grade 1-winner and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf-competitor Far Bridge.

Christophe Lorieul, the Belmont Park-based assistant to Clement, said See You Around is acclimating well to her new environment.

“She's done well. When she came to us, she was a typical European filly and a little bit on the skinny side, but she's put on some weight and has been training forwardly,” said Lorieul.

Bred in Ireland by C-Squared Investments, See You Around is out of the Group 2-placed Dutch Art mare Besotted. Her second dam, Tender Is Thenight, produced Group 1-winner Tie Black.

Frederick Hertrich III and John D. Fielding’s stakes-winning Kentucky homebred Whiskey Decision [post 4, Luan Machado] hopes to rebound from a pair of sixths, including the nine-furlong Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in August and the one-mile Listed Winter Memories last-out on September 13 here.

Trained by Arnaud Delacour, the Speightstown bay previously won the Christiana in July over nine-furlongs of firm Delaware Park turf. The 2 3/4-length win, which followed a dominant second-out graduation at Turfway Park and optional-claiming score at Churchill Downs, was enough for backers to make Whiskey Decision the favorite in her Grade 1 attempt at Del Mar.

The regally-bred filly is from a strong female line that stems from her third dam Note Musicale, who produced multiple Grade 1-winner Music Note, the dam of Group 1 Dubai World Cup-winner Mystic Guide.

Robert LaPenta and Madaket Stables’ Grade 2-placed Way to Be Marie [post 8, Manny Franco] will return from an over five-month layoff dating to a pacesetting fifth in the Grade 3 Regret on June 1 at Churchill Downs. Trained by Rob Atras, the Not This Time bay previously finished a half-length second there over 1 1/16-miles of yielding turf in the Grade 2 Edgewood in May.

Way to Be Marie matched a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure in the Edgewood, where she stalked in fourth position through three-quarters before making the lead and getting caught late by Dynamic Pricing.

Bred by William B. Harrigan and Mike Pietrangelo, Way to Be Marie, out of the unraced Henrythenavigator mare Woman of the World, was a $95,000 purchase at the 2023 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. Her third dam is Grade 1-winner Golden Treat.

Rounding out the field is the pair for four-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown of Grade 3-placed Oversubscribed [post 6, Flavien Prat] and two-time winner Dea Matrona [post 1, Irad Ortiz, Jr]; as well as two-time winner No Mo Candy [post 2, John Velazquez] for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.

Save Us Melania and Best Impression are entered for the main track-only.

The Pebbles is slated as Race 8 on Friday’s nine-race card that also features the $150,000 Autumn Days in Race 9. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct Racetrack fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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