Winter Memories, beaten for the first time this season at his last outing at Saratoga, shoots for her first Grade I win in the $250,000 Garden City Stakes on the turf at Belmont Park this weekend.
The Phillips Racing Partnership homebred will take on seven rivals including Hungry Island, the filly that upset her in the G2 Lake Placid Stakes on August 21 as well as second-place finisher Kathmanblu.
Also in the field is last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner More Than Real and the classy UK filly Theyskens' Theory, a two-time winner this year in England.
Trainer Jimmy Toner said the condition of the Saratoga course was not an excuse for Winter Memories' fourth as the 2-5 favorite.
He said a more plausible reason for her only unplaced finish of her career was that she was trapped along the inside between horses.
“I would like for her to make amends for her last race,” said Toner. “I certainly don't want to take anything away from Hungry Island, who ran a great race. I just hope she can run her race, is all.”
The filly is a four-time Graded stakes winner, including the May 30 G2 Sands Point which also came over the Belmont turf course.
Javier Castellano will have the mount on the favorite for the first time, replacing Jose Lezcano.
Winter Memories will point toward the $400,000 G1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland for her next race.
More Than Ready filly Hungry Island recorded her fourth consecutive win in the Lake Placid, scoring by 2 1/2 lengths in her graded stakes debut.
The Shug McGaughey trainee began her win streak in early May at Belmont when breaking her maiden in her fifth try then recorded two more victories over the same turf course in a first-level allowance race and the July 2 Recording Stakes.
Kathmanblu, a two-time graded stakes winner, will try to stop a four-race losing streak under Lezcano, who ironically replaces Castellano.
More Than Real was off for more than seven months after winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last November.
The Todd Pletcher trainee resurfaced in June at Ascot in England , finishing 11th in the G1 Coronation Stakes and was then beaten 5 1/2 lengths by Winter Memories in the July 27 Lake George at Saratoga.
Theyskens' Theory was one of the favorites for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies last fall, but finished sixth in her only start on dirt.
The Bernardini filly has won twice in three starts in England this season for trainer Brian Meehan, her only loss coming when eighth in the Coronation Stakes.
