I Still Miss You ran seven other fillies off their hooves and her record to two wins from two starts after out-dueling Best Performance and drawing away to win the $150,000 Astoria Stakes on Thursday at Belmont Park.
I Still Miss You was one of six fillies coming into the Astoria off a debut victory, but unlike her first time out, the dark bay daughter of Majestic Warrior went straight to the front in the Astoria. She held off Sugar Queen through a first quarter in :22.19, Waki Patriot through a half in :45.60 and Best Performance late to complete 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.85 over the fast track.
“With the inside post, I had to use her speed, and she responded,” jockey Javier Castellano said. “We didn’t have a chance to rate; we had to send her because of the post position. I think they’ll be able to stretch her out; she’ll move forward well.”
“Going into her first race I thought she would be competitive since she was training well,” trainer Jeremiah Englehart said. “She surprised me a little bit as far as how well she ran. I thought she would run good, I just wasn’t sure she would run as good as she did.”
As a New York-bred there are a lot of options for I Still Miss You, who Englehart trains for Gold Star Racing Stable, Matthew Hand and Brian McKenzie.
