Cicada Preview: Irish Constitution Wheels Back

OZONE PARK, NY – Fresh off a local confidence-boosting victory just a week ago, Perrine Time Thoroughbreds and West Paces Racing’s Irish Constitution wheels right back for Saturday’s $100,000 Cicada Stakes at Aqueduct.

The Cicada is a 6-furlong dirt sprint restricted to 3-year-old fillies. This year’s edition is the third event on a 9-race card and has a local post time of 2:20 PM.

Here’s a look at the full field for the Cicada:

1. Exogen 30/1 – She won her debut for new trainer Miguel Penaloza last time out, taking a $25k starter allowance going 6 furlongs at Parx. She broke her maiden on debut going 5 1/2 furlongs at Monmouth Park while risked for a $20k tag, which is when and how current owner Nauticat Racing acquired her. Despite the multiple victories on her resume, however, this is easily her toughest class test to date.

2. Irish Constitution 3/1 – She won over this course and distance by 4 1/4 lengths while facing an allowance field of 3 other New York-breds for her first win since breaking her maiden at Saratoga on debut last July. Trainer Raymond Handal supplemented her into the field following her recent win, an interesting move considering he’d already entered stablemate Just Read It.

“I’ve had some luck running off short rest,” Handal said. “We’ve always really liked her. She’s always one I’ve been high on. She bounced out of her last race really well. It was like a nice, strong workout for her.”

3. Salt Plage 8/5 – She won 2 straight at Parx to start her career before stepping up for February’s 7-furlong Wide Country Stakes at Laurel Park, where she finished third. The 77 Beyer Speed Figure that she earned fits with the field’s top contenders and her pedigree suggests that a stakes title is within her future: 3 older siblings won graded stakes in dirt sprints and her dam won a Grade 3 dirt route.

See the day’s full plays from Ricky’s Rockets!

4. Save 6/5 – Undefeated after making her first 2 starts at this distance at Fair Grounds, she ships north to make her stakes debut and attracted the meet’s leading rider Kendrick Carmouche for the first time. Carmouche is known for getting horses out of the gate quickly and cleanly, a necessary task for this speedster who used a close stalking trip to break her maiden and won gate to wire last time out.

“In her last race she drifted out a bit,” Amoss said. “However, she has not given any indication, either before or after the race, that she has issues with that. A lot of it is both education and experience.”

5. Just Read It 5/1 – Handal’s second runner returns to dirt after finishing sixth on the Turfway Park synthetic surface in last month’s Cincinnati Trophy Stakes. Her first 2 starts came over this course and distance, including a 6 1/4-length maiden-breaking effort in her second attempt while the 6/5 favorite and reunites with Dylan Davis, who was aboard that day for the first time.

“I had this race on my radar for a while (for Just Read It),” said Handal, who also co-owns her. “I was debating whether I’d wait for this or go to Kentucky and I decided to go here.”