Pizza Bianca will commence her 3-year-old season on Closing Day at Aqueduct Racetrack, facing a talented but compact field in Sunday's $100,000 Memories of Silver for sophomore fillies going 1 1/16 miles over the outer turf.
Pizza Bianca, owned and bred by celebrity chef Bobby Flay, captured last year's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on November 5 at Del Mar, providing trainer Christophe Clement with his first Breeders' Cup score.
The daughter of Fastnet Rock was expertly piloted by Jose Ortiz from the rail and was last around the far turn, before weaving her way through traffic and displaying a strong turn of foot to win by a half-length.
Sent off at 10-1 odds for the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Pizza Bianca defeated European invaders Malavath [second] and Cachet [fourth], who both earned Group 3 victories on their side of the pond in their respective starts following the Breeders' Cup.
“The Breeders' Cup form is stronger than ever. Two of the fillies who finished second and fourth came back and won in Europe,” said Clement, who targets his third straight Memories of Silver score following wins by Feel Glorious [2019] and Bubbles On Ice [2021]. “Pizza Bianca is doing well. She had a break at Payson Park after the Breeders' Cup and she's training very forwardly so I'm excited to see her run.”
While luck was on her side in the Breeders' Cup, Clement noted that her natural talent was also highly instrumental in securing the win.
“She had an amazing trip. She came from way out of it. Jose took her to last and the inside opened up,” Clement said. “Everything worked out perfectly. She had a good ride, good trip, racing luck and she's a good filly. She had a very good turn of foot.”
En route to her Breeders' Cup score, Pizza Bianca was a debut winner over the summer at Saratoga Race Course before finishing second in the Grade 1 Natalma in September at Woodbine.
Pizza Bianca is out of the unraced Galileo mare White Hot, who Flay purchased at the 2014 Tattersalls October Sale. Her second dam, Gwynn, is a full-sister to Group 3 winner Dawn Patrol and a half-sibling to dual Group 3 winner Gagnoa and Group 1 winner Pour Moi.
Jose Ortiz will be reunited with Pizza Bianca from post 6.
Also making their first start since the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf are Treadway Racing Stable's Sail By and Klaravich Stables' Consumer Spending.
Trained by Leah Gyarmati, Sail By was a 12-1 upset winner of the Grade 2 Miss Grillo at Belmont Park one month before finishing 13th in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. The bay Astern filly lit up the tote board earlier that summer at Belmont in her June 28 debut at 28-1 odds before earning black type when second in Monmouth Park's Colleen and third in an off-the-turf P.G. Johnson at Saratoga.
Breaking from post 5, Sail By will be ridden by Jose Lezcano.
One of two entrants for trainer Chad Brown, Consumer Spending was a close sixth in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, finishing 1 3/4 lengths behind Pizza Bianca. The gray or roan More Than Ready filly won her stakes debut in the Selima in October over a yielding Laurel Park turf.
Her stablemate, Miss You Ella, finished third in her stakes debut last out in the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant on February 5 at Gulfstream Park following a maiden triumph on the synthetic surface at the South Florida oval. The Pennsylvania-bred Declaration of War filly is owned by Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables and Golconda Stable.
Consumer Spending will leave from post 7 under Manny Franco, while Miss You Ella will be ridden by Trevor McCarthy from post 3.
Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey will saddle Courtlandt Farms' On Alert following a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks on March 12 at Tampa Bay Downs. The daughter of Medaglia d'Oro won her 2022 debut, a second-out maiden triumph on the Gulfstream Park turf.
McGaughey said he was encouraged by On Alert's Florida Oaks effort, where she rallied from last-of-9 to finish only 1 1/2 lengths behind the victorious Dolce Zel.
“She finished behind a very slow pace, and I think running over the Aqueduct turf will help her. It'll help us see where she stands in that bunch,” McGaughey said. “I can always run her back in an 'a other than', but I'm a little interested to see how some of these horses run over a different track.”
On Alert, bought for $500,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Select Sale, is out of the Bernardini mare Darlings Darling – a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Heavenly Love and graded stakes winner Forever Darling.
Breaking from post 1, On Alert will be piloted by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.
Completing the field is stakes-winner Alittleloveandluck [post 4, Kendrick Carmouche] and main track only entrant Waters of Merom.
The Memories of Silver honors John and Joan Phillips' dual Grade 1-winning millionaire, who captured the Queen Elizabeth II at Keeneland in 1996 and the Beverly D. at Arlington Park in 1997. Trained by Jimmy Toner, the daughter of Silver Hawk also won prominent stakes in New York, including the 1997 Just a Game at Belmont and the Ballston Spa and Diana in 1998 at Saratoga Race Course.
The Memories of Silver is carded as Race 8 on Saturday's nine-race program, which also features the $200,000 NYSSS Park Avenue in Race 3. First post is 1:20 p.m. Eastern.
America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the spring meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.
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