Nice as Pie takes the Serena’s Song March 30, 2024, at Turfway Park (Coady Media)
Mary Eddy
Ozone Park, N.Y – Trainer Kelsey Danner has won with two of her four stakes starters this fall at Aqueduct Racetrack, and will look to further her success here with Nice as Pie in Sunday’s $150,000 Forever Together, a 1 1/16-mile outer turf test for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.
Danner took the Grade 2 Miss Grillo on October 4 with Ground Support en route to a third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, and most recently won the Stewart Manor with Map of the Moon on November 7. Additionally, Danner finished second with Otago in the Listed Artie Schiller on October 11.
Dede McGehee’s Kentucky homebred Nice as Pie [post 2, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] enters from a 2 1/4-length third to Candy Reward in the one-mile and 70-yard H.B.P.A on October 6 over the synthetic at Presque Isle Downs. The effort came in her furthest race to date, and at a distance beyond sprinting for the third time in her career.
Danner noted the 4-year-old daughter of Tapiture demonstrated her proficiency over a route of ground last year when a head second to Poolside With Slim in the one-mile Penn Oaks at Penn National, where she rallied from last-of-10 to just miss in an effort that was awarded a career-best 87 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I thought her best race last year was long on the grass, but we just haven’t really had the opportunity to do it again,” Danner said. “I’m interested to see her long on the grass again. She has one of her better numbers stretching out, but I do think she’s fine either way.”
Nice as Pie posted a productive campaign last season, beginning with four consecutive wins sprinting over the Turfway Park Tapeta, including stakes wins in the Valdale and Serena’s Song. She stretched out to one mile again last October for a distant off-the-board finish in the Grade 2 Valley View at Keeneland, but rebounded to post four straight on-the-board efforts at Turfway, which encompassed her most recent win in a February optional claimer sprinting six furlongs.
“She runs her race every time,” Danner said. “I thought she ran well last time and it wasn’t super fast fractions to run into, but I thought it was a good effort. She does not like to go to the lead and she’s always tardy from the gate, but that’s just Pie. It’s not going to change at this point.”
The bay filly is out of the Include mare How Nice, who also produced the Danner-trained stakes-winner Smokin’ Jay. Nice as Pie has banked $448,633 through a lifetime record of 18-5-3-3.
Five-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Chad Brown sends out the pair of dual graded stakes-placed Oversubscribed [post 7, Manny Franco] and stakes-winner Malleymoo [post 4, Dylan Davis].
Klaravich Stables’ Oversubscribed, a 4-year-old Too Darn Hot filly, returns from a more than one-year respite that dates to a rallying second in the Grade 3 Pebbles here. That effort capped a year that included a win in the local Listed Wild Applause in June, and a close runner-up effort to Pounce in the Grade 3 Lake George at Saratoga Race Course.
LSU Stables’ Malleymoo has finished on-the-board in each of her last five outings, with her last three being her first starts for Brown after transferring from the barn of the late Christophe Clement. Last out, she finished a three-quarter-length second to Reagan’s Flame in an allowance going this distance on October 9 at Keeneland. The 5-year-old English Channel mare looks to add a second stakes win to her ledger after taking the Listed Penn Oaks in 2023 for trainer Jack Sisterson.
Jayne McGivern’s Sirona [post 3, Jaime Rodriguez] cuts back in distance after a last-out sixth in the 1 3/8-mile Grade 3 Waya on October 5 here. Trained by Graham Motion, the 5-year-old Soldier Hollow bay made her first 20 starts in Europe and moved stateside this summer. She finished second in Laurel Park’s nine-furlong All Along on September 13, landing a nose back of stablemate No Show Sammy Jo, who recently finished second in the Grade 3 Long Island here.
“Her owner was anxious about stretching her out last time – I thought it was something she might handle over here in America, but I think it was a little further than she wants to go,” Motion said. “In a perfect world, perhaps you go to a mile and an eighth, but there’s only so many options this time of year.”
The German-bred Sirona placed in three Group 3s in England and France, including a half-length third in the Chartwell Fillies last May at Lingfield. Her resume also includes two stakes wins at 7 1/2 furlongs and one-mile, respectively, as part of a 22-4-6-1 record with $216,450 in earnings.
Completing the field are New York-bred stakes-winner Spinning Colors [post 5, John Velazquez] for trainer Mark Hennig, stakes-placed Flowers for Me [post 6, Javier Castellano] for trainer Jim Ryerson, and dual winner Miss Bonnie T [post 1, Christopher Elliott] for trainer Antonio Arriaga.
St. Benedicts Prep, Bernietakescharge and Tipple have been entered for the main track only.
The Forever Together, slated as Race 7 on Sunday’s nine-race card, honors the 2008 Champion Grass Mare who won that year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf for George Strawbridge, Jr.’s Augustin Stables. Sunday’s program also includes the Grade 3, $175,000 Pebbles in Race 3. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern.
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