ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Ralph Nicks would have loved to run Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Caledonia Road against Monomoy Girl one month ago in the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks. But a minor setback last winter prevented Nicks from having Caledonia Road, the 2017 champion 2-year-old filly, ready for the race.
Instead, the much-anticipated confrontation between the two talented 3-year-old fillies finally will take place Saturday at Belmont Park at one mile in the $700,000 Acorn. The Grade 1 Acorn drew a field of seven that also includes the multiple Grade 1 winner Moonshine Memories, Spectator, Starcloud, Talk Veuve to Me, and Gio Game.
Caledonia Road has started just once since her 3 1/4-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup, rallying for a 3 1/2-length score over older optional-claiming foes at Belmont Park on April 29.
“We didn’t want to rush her back just to make the Oaks,” Nicks said. “She’s doing really well now, and I expect her to run a very good race on Saturday. Obviously, a mile is not her preferred distance. She’s really a true mile-and-one-eighth and mile to a mile-and-one-quarter horse, and we’re really looking forward to races like the Mother Goose and Coaching Club later this summer. But there should be enough pace in this field to give her a nice setup, and I expect her to come running late and get a good piece of it.”
Nicks knows that facing Monomoy Girl, especially in her current form, will be a formidable task.
“Monomoy Girl’s accomplishments are pretty well documented,” Nicks said. “And she and most of the other fillies in the race have a lot more experience and conditioning at this point. But we’ve trained here, run here, and know our filly likes the track, so that has to be some sort of advantage for her.”
Mike Smith, who rode Caledonia Road in the Breeders’ Cup, will have the mount.
Monomoy Girl moved to the top of the 3-year-old filly division with her half-length decision over Wonder Gadot in the Kentucky Oaks. The win was the sixth in seven starts for the daughter of Tapizar, who won her only start at a mile on dirt by 6 1/2 lengths as a 2-year-old last October at Churchill Downs.
“We’ve thought about this race all the way back to last fall,” trainer Brad Cox said. “The timing is good coming out of the Oaks, and she’s trained extremely well since that race. I don’t think the turnback will bother her. She ran a one-turn mile once, and it might have been the best race of her life.”
Monomoy Girl has been most successful racing on the lead but has proven she can win without it.
“Her versatility is one of her biggest assets,” Cox said. “She’s had three starts this year and ran three different races, winning on the lead, from just off the pace, and from last. She’s also shown the ability to handle all sorts of surfaces ... fast dirt, wet tracks, and turf. So, I don’t think she’ll mind the track, even though she’s never run at Belmont before.”
Others likely to show speed are Starcloud, a winner of her last three starts, and the lightly raced Talk Veuve to Me, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Eight Belles while making her stakes debut last month at Churchill Downs.
Moonshine Memories has run just once since the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, rallying to finish second in a seven-furlong overnight stakes race at Santa Anita on May 12. Moonshine Memories launched her career at 2 with three consecutive victories, including Grade 1 wins in the Del Mar Debutante and Chandelier.
Spectator has not raced since her second-place finish to Midnight Bisou in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks on April 7. She became a Grade 2 winner in just her second start, dominating the Sorrento last summer at Del Mar.
