The $300,000, Grade 2 Mother Goose Stakes highlights Saturday’s 10-race card at Aqueduct with a very competitive field of nine 3-year-old fillies.

Historically, the Mother Goose has been run in the summer at Belmont Park with legendary fillies winning previous editions including Rachel Alexandra dominating by a record 19 ¼ lengths in 2009 following her wins in the Grade 1 Longines Kentucky Oaks and Grade 1 Preakness Stakes. This year, Drexel Hill is the lone Mother Goose contender that ran in the 2025 Kentucky Oaks. Among the other eight fillies, Being Myself drew the rail post with John Velazquez riding for the first time. This Curlin filly will be making her third start after a nearly 11-month layoff. Queen Azteca started her career in Norway and Sweden before coming to the states for a bid in the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes Presented by Keeneland Sales in August at Saratoga. Lemon Zest is a perfect 2-for-2 going a mile on the dirt and finished runner-up in the Remington Park Oaks last time out when stretching out to 1 1/16 miles for the first time. The Godolphin homebred gets red-hot Flavien Prat aboard for the first time. Ourdaydreaminggirl narrowly missed last time out, finishing third by just a neck in the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes at odds of 42.90-1. Filly Freedom, a daughter of Constitution trained by Chad Brown, won her first race by 8 ¼ lengths in her third career start last time out going a mile on the dirt on this track. Stablemate Fully Subscribed is on Filly Freedom’s outside in post six and will be making her third career start since a nearly 11-month layoff after she won at this track in October of 2024. Cue the Duckboats notched her first career victory at this 1 1/8-mile distance at Churchill Downs back in June in her third career start and returns to the U.S. after a bid in the Ontario Damsel Stakes at Woodbine over an all-weather track last time out. So There She Was drove clear to win the Remington Park Oaks by 2 ¾ lengths last time out over Mother Goose contender Lemon Zest in second. The aforementioned Drexel Hill drew the far outside post and will be making her first start since running second to Good Cheer at odds of 32.23-1 in the Kentucky Oaks on the first Friday in May.

Analysis and Main Contenders:

This ultra-competitive field has yielded a very difficult edition of the Mother Goose Stakes with many of these 3-year-old fillies having legitimate chances at finding the winner’s circle.  Among the most compelling is Being Myself who could fly under the radar for the Cherie DeVaux stable with John Velazquez in the saddle. This jockey/trainer duo is winning at 40% in all races together this year and could very well add another win to that percentage. A $450,000 purchase by Lael Stables at the 2023 Keeneland September yearling sale, Being Myself has always been held in high regard. She debuted in September of 2024 at Churchill Downs going 6 ½ furlongs on dirt and finished a distant fifth behind Muhimma, who returned to win her next start by 5 ½ lengths before winning the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes. After that debut, Being Myself went to the sidelines for nearly 11 months before returning in August at Ellis Park, where she impressively won first off the layoff going one mile on dirt. Being Myself took a notable step forward in her most recent start at Churchill Downs in September, drawing clear with authority to win an allowance race by four lengths going 1 1/16 miles and earning a career-best 96 Equibase Speed Figure. The added distance again should prove favorable with Being Myself being ranked second in late pace among this field with a 107.5. Being Myself’s speed figures continue a steady upward progression. Outside of her debut, a race in which something presumably went wrong, her form has been consistently improving, and we have yet to see the full potential of this filly.

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Drexel Hill faces a tough test to come back off a long layoff to run 1 1/8 miles in a Grade 2 stakes; however, according to trainer Whit Beckman, she is training better and stronger than ever. She started her career at Woodbine over the all-weather track and after three starts won by six lengths. Then, she transferred to the Beckman barn and moved to Fair Grounds. In December, Drexel Hill finished fifth in the Untapable Stakes after running into some traffic in the stretch, and went on to finish third in her next start in the Fasig-Tipton Silverbulletday Stakes, earning a 90 Equibase Speed Figure. Drexel Hill took a slight layoff and returned here at Aqueduct and put on a brilliant performance, splitting horses in midstretch and winning the one-mile Busher Stakes by three-quarters of a length despite stumbling at the start. She again took a slight layoff before her bid in the Kentucky Oaks, where she finished second 2 ¼ lengths behind Good Cheer after breaking last in the 13-horse field. Based on her last two performances, this Bolt d’Oro filly has proven she is a major contender in graded stakes races and likely has many more wins to come in her career. Jockey Ben Curtis retains the mount for the fourth consecutive time which is positive as he gets the best effort out of her. Drexel Hill loves the Aqueduct dirt and has shown she can perform at this 1 1/8-mile distance as well.

The highest average class in this field belongs to So There She Was, a Munnings filly trained by Doug O’Neill. So There She Was started her career as a sprinter and has quickly developed into a talented dirt route filly. Following a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante Stakes in September of 2024, she was sidelined for nearly 11 months and returned in August, finishing a distant fifth in an allowance optional claiming race at Del Mar. Just 27 days later, she made a bid in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines Stakes and was narrowly caught at the finish after leading every step of the way in her route debut, earning a career-best 102 Equibase figure for that effort. Last time out, So There She Was stretched out to 1 1/16 miles for the first time and won the Remington Park Oaks by 2 ¾ lengths in dominant fashion. Joel Rosario will be aboard So There She Was for the first time on Saturday and he wins at an incredible 32% from 57 starts over the past year in dirt routes at Aqueduct. This filly could be very difficult to beat in the Mother Goose and should not be off any tickets.

The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures in similar races, is Queen Azteca (87), Lemon Zest (98), Ourdaydreaminggirl (106), Filly Freedom (83), Fully Subscribed (92), and Cue the Duckboats (89).

Win Contenders in Preference Order:

Being Myself

Drexel Hill

So There She Was