First to Act breaks her maiden April 15, 2022, at Aqueduct (Coglianese)
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
BALTIMORE— Andrew Rosen homebred First to Act, placed in back-to-back graded stakes to cap her juvenile campaign, will make her Maryland debut in just her second start as a 3-year-old in the $75,000 Shine Again Saturday at historic Pimlico Race Course.
Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, First to Act remains in search of her first stakes victory. The 5-year-old daughter of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin has raced at a mile or more in seven consecutive starts since running second in her March 2022 unveiling, a 7 ½-furlong maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park.
“We’re just trying to start over again with her,” McGaughey said. “We’ve been running her long, and some of the Curlins look like they wanted to sprint a little bit, especially the ones that are out of speed mares. Her mother, First Passage, ran sprint races.”
First Passage, also owned by Rosen and trained by McGaughey, won five of 15 starts including the 2009 Snurb, Leave Me Alone and Azalea (G3) in successive starts at Calder. She also ran fourth that year in the Test (G1) at Saratoga and in 2010 won the U Can Do It Handicap, also at Calder.
Unraced at 2 and 3, First to Act hit the board in each of her first seven starts with two wins, four seconds including the Beldame (G2) behind 2022 champion 3-year-old filly Nest and the Summer Colony, and a third to Battle Bling in the Turnback the Alarm (G3), all going 1 1/8 miles. She went 261 days before racing again, finishing last of seven in the 1 1/16-mile Molly Pitcher (G3) July 22 at Monmouth Park.
“I don’t know what happened to her at Monmouth,” McGaughey said. “I thought she’d run good; she’d been training really well. She didn’t run up to what I thought, so we’ll see how she does at Pimlico on Saturday.”
Forest Boyce, McGaughey’s regular go-to rider in Maryland, has the call on First to Act from Post 5 in a field of 10.
“I think Forest will fit her very well, kind of let her get herself together and finish. We’ll just see what we’ve got,” he said. “I was going to run her in Saratoga and it didn’t work out, and then this race came up so we’ll take a good look at it and see what happens.”
No Guts No Glory Farm homebred Mama G’s Wish chases her ninth career win and second in a stakes following the six-furlong Lewes last summer at Delaware Park. She has won two straight for owner-trainer John Robb, most recently by a length going 6 ½ furlongs Aug. 27 at Timonium.
Robert James McGee’s Moody Woman has won two of eight starts this year, her latest victory coming at the distance in a 4 ¾-length open allowance romp June 2 at Pimlico. The 4-year-old filly has placed three times in stakes, including third by two lengths at odds of 59-1 in the Feb. 18 Barbara Fritchie (G3) at Laurel Park.
Nine-time career winner Self Isolation was entered by New York-based owner-trainer David Jacobson to run back just six days after finishing fourth as the favorite in an off-the-grass edition of Pimlico’s five-furlong Sensible Lady Turf Dash. Two of her three wins this year have come in Maryland in six-furlong sprints at Laurel.
Paul Fowler Jr.’s Maryland homebred Intrepid Daydream has run first or second in six of nine career starts, beaten a head last out in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance Sept. 1 at Colonial downs after running third by less than a length in the one-mile Caesar’s Wish July 15 at Laurel. The 4-year-old Jess’s Dream filly, a granddaughter of Curlin, ran second to Self Isolation in her season opener June 16.
Completing the field are Deco Strong, the 2022 Penn Ladies Dash winner that ran third in the Timonium Distaff Aug. 26; two-time Arizona-bred stakes winner Alberta Sun; multiple stakes-placed Sweet Gracie and Beneath the Stars; and Bourbon Wildcat, runner-up in the Jan. 21 Geisha at Laurel.
The Shine Again honors Allaire duPont’s fourth generation Maryland homebred mare that retired in 2003 after winning 14 of 34 starts, seven stakes and nearly $1.3 million in purses. Trained by late Hall of Famer Allen Jerkens, she won back-to-back editions of the Ballerina (G1) in 2001 and 2002 and was second in 2003.
