How to bet the 2024 Heavenly Prize Stakes

A field of eight fillies and mares will travel one mile on the Aqueduct dirt in Saturday’s $150,000 Heavenly Prize S. The affair lacks early speed and I will seek an upset with a mare that I feel will be sent from the break en route to a wire-to-wire tally. 

Heavenly Prize Wagers

• $10 win and place #3 Portage ($20)
• $10 exacta box 3-7 ($20)
• $3 trifecta box 3,6,7 ($18)

#3 Portage, one of two in the field for conditioner Linda Rice, hit the gate at the start when making her 2024 debut on the oval most recently prior to ultimately coming home third, and a clean break will yield the five-year-old on the front end for her second run off the shelf. By Tonalist, Portage has picked up both of her career wins when forcing the tempo from the start and will revert to that tactic on Saturday under Kendrick Carmouche. 

The chestnut owns a win at the distance on the course and comes back quickly after running last weekend, which I view as a positive. The Robert Evans’ homebred is lightly raced and could go off at a fair price, as well. 

#7 Saddle Up Jessie is the one to beat in the feature, as she won the Carousel S. at Laurel two back prior to registering a close second in the recent Ladies S. on the oval most recently. Trained by Brittany Russell, the daughter of More Than Ready has turned out to be a fabulous claim when nabbed for $20,000 in January of 2023, and the Kentucky bred has never been better. I am a bit concerned about the cutback in distance today, however, and she might be vulnerable at a fairly short price at post time. The lass is still formidable, nonetheless, with Manny Franco up. 

#6 Movie Moxy, also from the Rice shedrow, is something of a distance specialist with a 9-4-2-2 mark at one-mile, and she also has a measure of early foot to be in a good spot at the top of the lane, as well. The Street Sense mare chased a nice one off the bench in her latest endeavor, and she will move up while making her second appearance since June with Jose Lezcano taking the reins.