With the Breeders' Cup just three weeks away, the Sands Point Stakes (G2T) is an unlikely spot to search for a candidate for the World Championships.
Yet the Oct. 12 1 1/8-mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Aqueduct Racetrack could be a nice stepping stone to future success, as it was for 2017 winner Uni, who became the 2019 champion turf female, and 2021 winner Fluffy Socks, now a $1.3 million earner.
Of the seven turf entrants, Cheyenne Stable's Style Points seems capable of fitting that mold.
The daughter of Oscar Performance is coming off a Sept. 7 dead-heat victory for trainer Christophe Clement in the $255,000 Virginia Oaks and earlier in the year placed in a pair of grade 3 turf tests.
"She's doing well, no problem. She came back the very next day from Colonial Downs after the Virginia Oaks and she's been doing well since," said Clement assistant trainer Christophe Lorieul. "She had a good work a couple of days ago. Her work two weeks ago was just OK, but this week's work was much better. She's doing great here."
Bred by Candy Meadows out of the Ghostzapper mare Mystical Star, Style Points has been first or second in five of her last six starts.
Trainer Chad Brown can always be counted to have a talented turf filly in his barn and he will be sending out Peter Brant's duo of Spaliday and Shade of Pale.
Spaliday will be seeking her initial graded stakes score. The More Than Ready filly was fourth most recently in the Aug. 17 Lake Placid Stakes (G2T) at Saratoga Race Course after winning the Boiling Springs Stakes at Monmouth Park.
"She has shown reason to believe she's (graded) stakes caliber in her last couple starts and that she's up for this," Brown said.
Shade of Pale, a daughter of Demarchelier , will be facing winners for the first time after notching a 2 1/4-length maiden score in her third career start.
"She's a horse we always liked, and it took a while to get her to the races. I'm not sure I'll run her, but I'll take a look," Brown said.
Gary Barber's Mo Fox Givin was a 21-1 longshot last time out in the $1.53 million Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs but a wide, adventurous trip ended her upset hopes.
The Sept. 11 start was her second since moving to Casse's barn. She was fourth in the Pucker Up Stakes (G3T) in her first try for the new connections.
"It was a horror story from the beginning, so I'm just throwing (the Dueling Ground Oaks) out," Casse said. "We've run her twice and both times it was tough. She had a rough trip (in the Pucker Up) too. We like her. She's a good, solid filly. She just needs a little bit of luck. So far, it's only been bad."
The entries also include two main track only starters in Audacious and Just Music.
Belmont at the Big A, Saturday, October 12, 2024, Race 5Entries: Sands Point S. (G2T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Mo Fox Givin (KY) Dylan Davis 118 Mark E. Casse - 2 Spaliday (KY) Manuel Franco 118 Chad C. Brown - 3 Shade of Pale (KY) Eric Cancel 118 Chad C. Brown - 4 Macanga (KY) Jose Lezcano 118 Richard E. Dutrow, Jr. - 5 Courbe (KY) Kendrick Carmouche 118 Todd A. Pletcher - 6 Style Points (KY) Joel Rosario 118 Christophe Clement - 7 Justdeny (KY) Ricardo Santana, Jr. 118 Danny Gargan - 8 Audacious (KY) Rider TBA 118 Todd A. Pletcher - 9 Just Music (KY) Jose Lezcano 118 Linda Rice -
