The race for champion three-year-old filly honors was long ago settled in favor of Breeders’ Cup-bound Thorpedo Anna, but a pair of rivals who at times promised to be among the stronger players in the division will square off Saturday in the $250,000 Mother Goose (G2) at Aqueduct.
Gun Song, who ran Thorpedo Anna to a neck decision in last month’s Cotillion (G1) at Parx, is aiming for her second graded win of the season in the nine-furlong Gazelle. Although a bit inconsistent earlier this year when a popular victory in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) was book-ended by lesser efforts in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) and Acorn (G1), Gun Song has finished first or second in her last three starts.
“I’ve always felt like she’s got a lot of ability if she puts it all together on the right day,” trainer Mark Hennig said. “She’s really blossomed.
“I look forward to next year with her. She’ll really mature a lot mentally. She has this year, too, and it’s been fun to watch.”
Tarifa, who kicked off the season with three wins at Fair Grounds, including the Rachel Alexandra (G2) and Fair Grounds Oaks (G2), finished a distant third in the Cotillion in her second start back from a layoff dating to her ninth-place run in the Kentucky Oaks (G1).
Life Talk, who captured the track-and-distance Demoiselle (G2) as a juvenile, did not develop into a Kentucky Oaks candidate last winter. But she should improve off a second-place finish in the Sept. 21 Seneca S. at Churchill Downs, her first outing in more than five months.
Headline Numbers, a daughter of Gun Runner making just her third start for the powerhouse Chad Brown stable, has unlimited upside despite losing as an odds-on choice against allowance foes at Saratoga when last seen.
Saturday’s card at the Big A also features the $175,000 Bold Ruler (G3) over six furlongs, which is headlined by recent Vosburgh (G2) runner-up Scotland, and the $250,000 Forty Niner (G3), a one-mile prep for the Cigar Mile (G2) in early December.
