Away from the races since a narrow victory over Snap Decision in the Grade 1 Grand National at Far Hills last October which cemented her championship, The Mean Queen was also nominated to Thursday's G1 Lonesome Glory at Aqueduct, but opted for the Entenmann as a softer opportunity to ease back into competition.
At 2 ⅜ miles, the Entenmann is a furlong shorter than the Lonesome Glory, and the 6-year-old daughter of Doyen gets a break in the weights compared to what she would have carried in the Grade 1 handicap. Her topweight assignment of 158 points, including jockey Parker Hendriks, is only two to eight pounds more than her rivals.
The three-time 2021 Grade 1 winner is eligible to compete in novice stakes because she didn't capture her first victory over hurdles until April 2021. The Entenmann is open to runners who didn't win over hurdles before March 1, 2021
If both Snap Decision and The Mean Queen exit Thursday's races in good order, the duo is likely to hook up once again in the $250,000 weight-for-age Grand National at Far Hills, N.J., on Oct. 15.
Whereas Snap Decision's biggest challenge might be the weight spread, The Mean Queen will need to be sharp to turn back a number of up-and-coming hurdlers who are exiting recent strong performances at lower levels of competition.
Irv Naylor's Howyabud, one of two other Brion trainees in the Entenmann, is two for two since coming to the U.S. from Ireland this spring, most recently taking the Jonathan Kiser novice stakes at Saratoga. The other, Going Country, owned by Blue Streak Racing, Metahorse Racing, and CFC Racing, got off slow and struggled with his jumping in the Kiser, but put in a late rally to get up for third. Next, he bounced back to run second to Snap Decision in the Sheppard in his first try against more seasoned competition..
Bruton Street-US' Proven Innocent, Snap Decision's stablemate also trained by Jack Fisher, has taken two of his last three. After breaking his maiden at the Iroquois Races, he finished a good second to Freddy Flintshire in a non-winners of two at Saratoga followed by a hard-fought win at the Spa over Michael Smith's Bandua in another allowance contest.
Bandua, trained by Neil Morris, broke his maiden at Colonial Downs in August, before his gallant second at Saratoga.
Gill Johnston's State of Affair put forth a career-best effort to romp by nearly 10 lengths, at 8-1, last month in a non-winners-of-two allowance at Saratoga for trainer Todd Wyatt.
Rounding out the field is Van Cushny's Booby Trap, trained by Leslie Young. After back-to-back maiden and allowance wins at Colonial Downs and Saratoga, Booby Trap finished second to Ritzy AP in the 2021 Entenmann and third in the Foxbrook Champion Hurdle novice stakes at Far Hills. This will be his second start of the season.
The Entenmann will go off as the first race on Thursday's 10-race opening-day card at the Big A. Post time is 1 p.m. The Lonesome Glory is race two, at 1:32 p.m.
NYRA races are broadcast live on Fox2 TV, with replays available on NYRA website, https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/
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