The original field of seven in the Grade 3 Turnback The Alarm Handicap at Aqueduct on Saturday was complicated, but at least opinions could be built on whether the highweight and expected favorite Divine Miss Grey could get the 1 1/8-mile distance. With Divine Miss Grey’s connections opting to instead run in the Grade 2 Chilukki at Churchill Downs, questions surround each of the remaining six runners.
Teresa Z becomes the starting highweight in the $150,000 race at 121 pounds. She is dropping out of a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Beldame and a third in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap, but is only 1 for 5 on the year, all for trainer Anthony Margotta Jr. She has a solid late run, won the Obeah at Delaware Park going nine furlongs in June, but is pace dependent.
Drawn just to her outside in post 2 is 6-year-old Bishop’s Pond, who spent much of her career on turf but has found new life on dirt the past year for trainer Jason Servis. A disappointing 3 for 22 on grass, she is 3 for 6 on dirt.
Bishop’s Pond is coming off a strong win in the $50,000 Winter Melody at Delaware Park, but will face tougher competition Saturday. Still, she seems capable of making the lead and will be tough if not pressured.
Forever Liesl may be capable of pressing Bishop’s Pond early, but also is stepping up in class for trainer Michelle Nevin. Based at Belmont, she has made four of her last six starts at Monmouth Park, Laurel Park, and Delaware.
Holy Helena is the most accomplished member of the field and has made her last four starts in Grade 1 and Grade 2 company for trainer Jimmy Jerkens. She won the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay at Belmont Park in May, but has not shown the same late move in her last three races.
The Turnback The Alarm will be Holy Helena’s first dirt start since the 2017 Alabama. She will wear blinkers for the first time Saturday.
Moonlit Garden and trainer Christopher Davis scored their first career stakes wins when she led throughout in the restricted Summer Colony at Saratoga. She did not work for close to two months after that race and will wear two bar shoes in the Turnback The Alarm.
Arraign comes into the race off a 7-1 win in the restricted George Rosenberger on Owners’ Day at Delaware for trainer Michael Matz. The win was her first in a stakes and her first in eight starts going back to June 2017.
Cloud Computing returns
Cloud Computing, winner of the 2017 Preakness for Chad Brown, will make his return to the races Saturday at Aqueduct in a second-level optional-claiming race going a mile.
This will be only the second start for Cloud Computing since he came out of the 2017 Travers with an ankle chip. He returned in the Grade 3 Westchester on May 5 to finish fourth, beaten only a neck in a good effort. Unfortunately, he came out of that race with another ankle chip.
Cloud Computing worked three times in August at the Stonestreet Training Center before rejoining Brown’s stable. He has breezed seven times since, six times at Saratoga and most recently at Belmont Park.
A son of Maclean’s Music owned by the Klaravich Stables of Seth Klarman and William Lawrence, Cloud Computing is 2 for 7 in his career with earnings of more than $1.1 million.
This story originally appeared on DRF.com.
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