‘She Would Prefer A Mile': May Day Ready Shortens Up For Lake Placid
Last year's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf runner-up May Day Ready, hailing from the barn of Joe Lee for KatieRich Stables, worked at Saratoga on Sunday, breezing four furlongs over the Oklahoma turf in 49.62 seconds. The Tapit bay, last seen finishing a four-length fourth in the nine-furlong G1 Belmont Oaks Invitational on July 5 here, will point to the G2, $400,000 Lake Placid on Aug. 23 at 1 mile for sophomore fillies.
'She went well,' Lee said. 'I'm really happy with how she looks and her work."After discussing it [the Belmont Oaks] with Frankie [Dettori], we felt that she would prefer a mile or closer to it as opposed to something farther. I think having a couple more weather-dependent works, next Sunday and the Sunday after, could be very good for her, as well.'
The $325,000 blue-blooded daughter of G1 Coronation runner-up Nemoralia - who placed in her own Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2015 - looks to improve upon four consecutive losses and return to the form that saw her win on debut at Saratoga by a nose last August ahead of stakes victories in the Listed Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies and Keeneland's G2 Jessamine. Her run in the Breeders' Cup was of considerable credit, as she finished one length in front of Nitrogen and 1 1/2-lengths behind four-time top-flight winner Lake Victoria.A bold, but ultimately failed, attempt at G1 company in Japan capped her juvenile season, and a sealed-track last-of-three run behind an imperious Nitrogen in the G3 Wonder Again on June 7 here kicked off her campaign before the recent Belmont Oaks run.
'In my opinion, I know how far along she was in her training because she didn't really get much out of that Wonder Again when they took it off the turf,' Lee explained. 'It was a mile race, and she ran for maybe five-eighths and came home the last quarter in 29 seconds, just galloping easy home and not getting much out of that; more of a work than a race. Going into the Belmont Oaks, to only get beat four lengths and having what was really her first real race back in six months - that wasn't a bad run at all, especially against the two best turf fillies on this side of the country.'She's pretty much the same inquisitive and smart filly who does everything right,' Lee concluded. 'It's always good when fillies are mentally are the same from two to three. Physically, she's grown somewhat. She's not a big type of filly like Nitrogen, but she has grown and filled out, and I'm pleased with how she's doing as she matures. Hopefully, these couple weeks here will give us that time to get even better, and we'll be in good shape.'
May Day Ready, bred in Kentucky by White Birch Farm, has banked in excess of $1 million via a 7-3-1-1 record.
This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Aug 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
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