The Grade 2, $200,000 Ruffian Stakes brings together a strong field of 11 older females, including three millionaires, on Saturday during the Belmont at the Big A meet. One of those is My Mane Squeeze, who won the Grade 2 Eight Belles Stakes Presented by Sysco a little over a year ago as well as the Grade 3 Fasig-Tipton Dogwood Stakes last September. My Mane Squeeze was scratched from last week’s Grade 1 Derby City Distaff Presented by Kendall-Jackson Winery at Churchill Downs for this easier spot. Another millionaire is Sterling Silver, a five-time stakes winner who recently won the Biogio’s Rose Stakes at the distance of the Ruffian. Morning Matcha is the third of the seven-figure earners, with her most recent win coming in the Mrs. Penney Stakes last August. Of the trio, only Sterling Silver enters the Ruffian off a win, but a number of others won their most recent start. Headline Numbers won the Top Flight Stakes at Aqueduct four weeks ago, while Here’s the Kicker and Takethemoneyhoney both won one-mile allowance races around one turn, the same configuration as the Ruffian. Gun Song had a solid 2024 campaign that ended with seven first- or second-place finishes in nine races. In one of those, the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes, Gun Song missed by a neck to subsequent Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna. Catherine Wheel finished third in the Heavenly Cause Stakes four weeks ago at Laurel Park and won at this one-turn mile trip at Aqueduct just prior to that. Dazzling Move won the Grade 3 Royal Delta Stakes in February before a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Resolute Racing Madison Stakes last month. Jody’s Pride won the 2024 Busher Stakes at Aqueduct at the distance of the Ruffian but is winless in four races since, although she did miss by just a neck in the Grade 2 Inside Information Stakes presented by MyRacehorse in January. Claret Beret has won four of 11 races in her career but is stepping up in class to run in a stakes race for the first time.
Win Contenders:
Sterling Silver is a 6-year-old mare with a pretty solid record of nine wins in 29 races, for earnings of $1,006,051. Better still, her record on the main track at Aqueduct is five wins, three seconds, and three thirds in 12 races, and the only time she finished worse than third was in March 2022, more than three years ago. In the fall of 2023, Sterling Silver finished first in the Gallant Bloom Stakes on this track but was disqualified for interference and placed second. She then won the Iroquois Stakes at Aqueduct with a then career-best 102 Equibase Speed Figure, which she bettered to 103 in March of last year. Sterling Silver also won the Johnstone Mile Handicap at Saratoga last summer. Returning from more than three months off in early April, Sterling Silver won the Biogio’s Rose Stakes at the same distance as the Ruffian, earning a 101 figure. Sterling Silver is very likely to improve upon that figure in her second start of the year, particularly with Javier Castellano in the saddle, who has been aboard for three of her last four victories.
My Mane Squeeze was entered to run last Saturday in the $1 million Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs, but trainer Mike Maker decided to ship her to New York from his Kentucky base not only because this is a Grade 2 race and an easier spot, but also because she has won three of four races at Aqueduct. Last year, the filly’s best efforts came when winning the Eight Belles Stakes in May and the Dogwood Stakes in September, both at Churchill Downs, with both efforts yielding strong 102 speed figures. Although both those wins came at seven furlongs, My Mane Squeeze is perfect in two races at this mile distance, with both wins coming at Aqueduct, in the Maid of the Mist Stakes in the fall of 2023 and in the Maddie May Stakes in February 2024. Returning from 5 ½ months off April 8 in the Resolute Racing Madison Stakes, My Mane Squeeze was not disgraced when third behind Positano Sunset and Emery, who just finished sixth and fifth, respectively, behind top sprinter Kopion in last weekend’s Grade 1 Derby City Distaff Stakes. With Manny Franco riding back after the third-place effort last month and returning to Aqueduct and the one-turn mile distance at which she has never lost, My Mane Squeeze also is a strong contender to win.
Catherine Wheel has never finished lower than third in seven races, and like the two horses above she really likes running at Aqueduct. She has won two of three races on the track, but more importantly both races were at this distance of one mile. After winning by a nose two starts back in March while earning a career-best 100 Equibase Speed Figure, Catherine Wheel was shipped down to Laurel Park while stepping into stakes company for the first time, getting to second and within a half-length of the winner in the stretch before settling for third in the Heavenly Cause Stakes. That was her first ever try on an “off” (muddy) track, and so with a fast track expected for the Ruffian as well as returning to the one-turn mile for this race, Catherine Wheel appears to have a solid chance to be right there at the finish line with My Mane Squeeze and Sterling Silver.
Honorable mention goes to three horses. Gun Song, Jody’s Pride, and Takethemoneyhoney, all three of which have a chance to earn a piece of the purse by finishing third, perhaps second, but in my estimation have much less probability of winning than any of the three horses above. Gun Song had a very nice 3-year-old campaign, with a career-best 102 speed figure when second to Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna in the Cotillion Stakes in September. However, in three of her last four races of 2024, all graded stakes, Gun Song lost ground after leading in the stretch to end up second, leading to an overall record of three wins and four seconds in nine starts for the year. Jody’s Pride won the Busher Stakes last March at this one-turn-mile trip at Aqueduct in a race restricted to 3-year-olds. She led late and missed by a neck in the Inside Information Stakes in January at Gulfstream Park to start her 4-year-old season, earning a career-best 103 figure, but then ran poorly when last of five in the Azeri Stakes when last seen March 8. Takethemoneyhoney has potential to play “come catch me” with the field by virtue of drawing the rail and having a lot of early speed. She’s won three of four races, the best being at this one turn mile trip at Aqueduct in March with a 100 Equibase Speed Figure, but she’s moving up in class considerably from a second-level allowance race to this Grade 2 stakes.
The rest of the field (with best Equibase Speed Figure): Claret Beret (99), Dazzling Move (95), Headline Numbers (93), and Here’s the Kicker (88).
Win Contenders, in preference order:
Sterling Silver
My Mane Squeeze
Catherine Wheel
