NYRA/Chelsea Durand
By Sarah Mace
When six New York-sired juvenile fillies lined up to go six furlongs in Aqueduct’s featured $150,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion series Saturday, two horses had taken the bulk of the money: Hot Stones, fresh off a blow-out maiden breaking score on November 18 (4-5), and Todd Pletcher-trained Grade 2 Adirondack winner Pure Silver (8-5). Some “wise-guy” money gravitated toward Wegetsdamunnys (7-2), who had three strong Finger Lakes races under her belt for Jeremiah Engelhart, including a runner-up finish in the Shesastonecoldfox.
In the end, just about everyone picked the wrong horse. In a wild three-way blanket finish, Louis Ferrari’s homebred Aunt Babe (Desert Party) stole the show at odds of 39-1 with a determined late rally under a hot-handed Eric Cancel, for whom this was the third win on Saturday’s card.
Aunt Babe was already a veteran of stakes competition, but with little to show for it. Following her impressive seven-plus-length maiden-breaking score on debut at Belmont on September 8, the dark bay was beaten a combined 34 lengths in the Joseph A. Gimma Stakes on September 20 and Finger Lakes’ Shesastonecoldfox Stakes on October 23. Previously trained by Carlos Martin, the Fifth Avenue was her first start with trainer James Ferraro,
Away well at the break, Aunt Babe settled in last in the two-path and enjoyed a ground-saving trip through the far turn. Another longshot, 26-1 Velvet Trinni led the field from her inside post, clocking fast early splits of 22.34 and 46.18 with (from the rail out) Pure Silver, Miss Hot Stones and Beaux Arts lined up and chasing five lengths back.
After rounding the far turn and now in fifth, Aunt Babe’s pilot was tasked with finding clear running room after tracking Pure Silver on the inside.
Shifting out into the four-path with a little more than a furlong to go, Aunt Babe got going best of all in the final strides and just got her nose in front of Pure Silver at the finish line, while Miss Hot Stones between them took third another half-length back.
Completing the order of finish were Wegetsdamunnys, Velvet Trinni and Beaux Arts. Aunt Babe completed the six furlongs over a “good” track in 1:12.92. [VIDEO REPLAY]
“I just tried to give her a confident ride,” said Cancel. “I didn’t have to rush her to do anything. I put my hands down on her and I decided to make my move from the quarter pole. I knew I had horse at the end, so I just tried to go on the outside and get a little bit of an advantage. She kept on running and the trip worked out really well.”
Ferraro said, “I told Eric to just get a position and make one run and he saw the same thing too. So, we were all on the same page. Eric did a lot of riding to get there, that’s for sure.”
Ferraro, who had given Aunt Babe seven weeks following the Shesastonecoldfox, also added, “I just took over the horse at the beginning of November. Carlos [Martin] did a lot of the earlier work. We just took it easy on her. We thought she was over trained a little bit. We got the right spot. The race came up light. There were over 300 fillies who were eligible for this race and only six of them showed up, so, it was a little surprising. I trained the mother [Bella Silver] for a little while, she had a lot of class too. [Aunt Babe] stepped up today and did it.”
Cancel forecasts good things for Aunt Babe down the road. “In the future, she’ll continue to be a decent filly. She’ll keep on trying. It’s tough in New York, there’s a lot of good horses, but hopefully she’ll get better and keep enjoying her victories.”
Foaled at Peacefield in Schuylerville, Aunt Babe is a daughter of Bella Silver, a placed runner by Silver Deputy also bred and campaigned by Ferrari. She is one of two winners from her dam from two foals to start and with two wins in four starts has earned $127,500. Bella Silver has a yearling colt by Mineshaft, a weanling Mineshaft filly and was bred in 2017 to Midnight Lute.
