There is a time and a season for everything, and trainer Christophe Clement believes the moment has arrived for Breath Away to take the important next step.
Breath Away (8-1) will try to secure her first graded stakes victory in the $175,000 Noble Damsel Stakes (G3), the featured race Saturday on the “Belmont at the Big A” card.
“Her last race was a very good race,” Clement said. “She’s doing well and it’s a bit ambitious, but it’s the right time of year to be ambitious.”
Aqueduct. Coglianese Photo.
Full Field Set for Noble Damsel at Aqueduct
Indeed, it is, as the turf season winds down in New York. Breath Away faces eight rivals in the 1-mile grass stakes for fillies and mares.
Breath Away tackled graded company once before, a third-place finish last November in the Autumn Miss (G3) at Santa Anita.
She closed out last season with a narrow loss in the Tropical Park Oaks at Gulfstream Park. The Noble Damsel is the fourth start this season for the 4-year-old, and she comes to this challenge in improving form. This could be her “make or break” moment as a graded-stakes performer.
She captured a second-level allowance race most recently at Saratoga and will have the red-hot Dylan Davis aboard. The distance should suit perfectly. Breath Away is 3-2-1 in seven 1-mile grass races and her stalking style should play well in this spot.
The unknown factor in the race is Edict (12-1), a 4-year-old from Argentina making her U.S. debut. She won 4-of-8 in her native land and was crowned Argentina’s champion 3-year-old filly last year.
How well that form translates from South to North America is a question to be answered here.
“She has acclimated well. She is a very smart, intelligent filly,” said trainer David Donk, who will saddle her for the first time. “It has been a good learning curve for her.”
When the topic of grass fillies in New York pops up, the name Chad Brown inevitably enters the conversation.
Brown, the leading trainer this summer at Saratoga, unleashes a trio of runners in the Noble Damsel: Alluring Angel (6-1), Saffron Moon (4-1) and Midnight Mile (4-1). Not surprisingly, Brown won this event five consecutive years from 2016-2020 and again last year in an off-the-turf match race.
Ocean Club (the 7-2 favorite) is the top money earner in the field with just under $400,000 in the bank. The suspicion remains that a mile is just about the outer limit of her distance potential at this level.
Post time is 4:11 p.m. ET.
For those who bet horse racing …
The picks: 1 Breath Away 2 Edict 3 Midnight Mile
The field for the $175,000 Noble Damsel Stakes (G3), from the rail out, with jockey, trainer, odds:
1 Ocean Club (Frankie Dettori, Jack Sisterson), 7-2
2 Five Towns (Jorge Ruiz, H. Graham Motion), 6-1
3 Puca Mucha (Kendrick Carmouche, Bill Mott), 10-1
4 Edict (Jose Gomez, David Donk), 12-1
5 Alluring Angel (Manny Franco, Chad Brown), 6-1
6 Breath Away (Dylan Davis, Christophe Clement), 8-1
7 Elounda Queen (Luis Rivera, Jr., Brad Cox), 10-1
8 Saffron Moon (Eric Cancel, Chad Brown), 4-1
9 Midnight Mile (Vincent Cheminaud, Chad Brown), 4-1
Also eligibles
10 Movie Moxy (Dylan Davis, Linda Rice), 5-2
11 Signal From Noise (Manny Franco, Chad Brown), 7-2