Drexel Hill returns to action at Aqueduct Racetrack for the $300,000 Grade II Mother Goose Stakes for three-year-old fillies over 1,800m on Saturday, November 8 after an enforced summer break. Whit Beckman’s daughter of Bolt D’Oro had a flake of chipped bone removed from her knee and now makes a comeback.
The 2025 Kentucky Oaks runner-up is no stranger to the Queens, New York City track either. Drexel Hill landed a Listed mile event around Aqueduct as her prep race for Churchill Downs in the spring. That course win, prior to chasing home Good Cheer in the Bluegrass State, both bode well for this reappearance. Drexel Hill’s Busher Stakes success saw third home Volleyballprincess make the show again next time in the Grade II Beaumont Stakes at Keeneland.
It’s her own subsequent display during the Kentucky Derby meet at big odds that gives her leading form claims for the Mother Goose Stakes, though. Drexel Hill had previous winners Bless The Broken and Tenma behind her in third and fourth. In-form Quietside crossed the wire in sixth spot. Frontrunning filly La Cara, who landed Grade I races either side of the Kentucky Oaks, was also down the field in ninth.
Despite the hold-up in her training, no oddsmakers or betting traders will have Drexel Hill as a longshot now. She’s most favored on the leading Kentucky Derby racebooks and Morning Line now eased in grade. It might not be as easy as her price suggests, however, as the field contains eight other females all with race fitness on their side. Drexel Hill also jumps from Gate 9, the widest post position of all. It’s a different draw to the one she had at Churchill Downs when she was the only one from a low number who finished in the top six.
Cotillion 3rd Ourdaydreaminggirl a Danger in Mother Goose Stakes
Although something of a Parx specialist, this race is also on the downgrade for Louis Linder’s Ourdaydreaminggirl. This Instagrand filly ran on into a close third in the Grade I Cotillion Stakes at the Pennsylvania track and almost turned about past form with Dry Powder. Beaten just half-a-length by Clicquot, the winner wasn’t disgraced when fourth against older females in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff during the World Championships from Del Mar last weekend.
La Cara and Good Cheer, who admittedly hasn’t replicated her Oaks win from the Kentucky Derby schedule since, were well behind Ourdaydreaminggirl around her happy hunting ground. She must prove she can deliver big performances away from Parx, but does receive 2lb from Drexel Hill in the Mother Goose Stakes and placed at Aqueduct over an inadequate 1,400m distance previously.
Group 3 winner Queen Azteca carries topweight for the Rodolphe Brisset barn, meanwhile. Penalised for landing the UAE Oaks in Dubai, her former connections pitched this daughter of Sweet Azteca in against the boys next time in the UAE Derby. She wasn’t disgraced in fifth or when filling the same spot in the Grade I Alabama Stakes at Saratoga over the summer. These terms don’t favor Queen Azteca, though.
A Remington Park Oaks rematch between Doug O’Neill inmate So There She Was and Lemon Zest sees the latter 6lb better off with the former. That significant swing in weight gives Brad Cox’s Nyquist filly every chance of turning about that Oklahoma form. The barn, owner-breeders Godolphin and jockey Flavien Prat combined with last year’s Mother Goose Stakes winner Tarifa too.
Filly Freedom a Dark Horse for Brown
Chad Brown saddled two of the last five successful fillies in this race. His Upstate New York barn sends two down from Saratoga for a shot at the spoils this time. Filly Freedom is an Aqueduct winner albeit just a maiden. Brown has a dark horse on his hands here as this daughter of Constitution bumped into the useful Ragtime in an allowance race at the Spa. The winner was a neck second in the Grade I Test Stakes next time, then landed the Dogwood around Churchill Downs and went a close third in Keeneland’s Raven Run.
With Filly Freedom winning herself since the race against Ragtime, she could be progressing just in time and for running over longer distances. Up another furlong for the Mother Goose Stakes, she is definitely one for bettors to consider with no penalty and the potential for further improvement. As for the other fillies, they must do better and step up on all known form if they want to make the show.
The Brown barn also runs Tiz The Law’s course and distance second Fully Subscribed. She failed to win an allowance optional claimer here at the end of September, however. Her prior Saratoga run behind Cue The Duckboats, who has won over this far for Bill Mott, means she’s a longshot here. Similar comments apply to Fully Subscribed’s old rival taking her on again.
Cue The Duckboats, a daughter of Bernardini, missed the show on a synthetic surface at Woodbine last time. She simply may not be up to this level. Cherie DeVaux’s Curlin filly Being Myself completes the line-up from inside post position number 1 and steps into graded stakes company for the first time. She seeks a hat-trick following consecutive victories in an Ellis Park maiden and Churchill Downs allowance race.
Mother Goose Stakes 2025 Post Positions Draw
- Being Myself (118lbs)
- Queen Azteca (122lbs)
- Lemon Zest (118lbs)
- Ourdaydreaminggirl (118lbs)
- Filly Freedom (118lbs)
- Fully Subscribed (118lbs)
- Cue The Duckboats (118lbs)
- So There She Was (120lbs)
- Drexel Hill (120lbs)
Our Handicapper’s Verdict
So much depends on the fitness of Drexel Hill. If she reproduces her Kentucky Oaks second, then she ought to win. Beckman did say connections were looking at bringing her back as a four-year-old next season, though.
In the event Drexel Hill isn’t fully tuned up for this comeback, then the next best form belongs to Cotillion third Ourdaydreaminggirl. At the revised weights, Lemon Zest can turnabout the Remington Park result with So There She Was. Filly Freedom looks a real dark horse.
WATCH: Drexel Hill Run in the Kentucky Oaks
