Nine fillies seek initial stakes success in Ruthless

There are few certainties in horse racing, but you can bet with confidence we’ll see a new stakes winner in Sunday’s $100,000 Ruthless S. at Aqueduct.

Nine 3-year-old fillies are entered to contest this 7-furlong sprint, but none have previously won or placed at the stakes level.

Chief among the key Ruthless contenders is Love of My Heart, a daughter of Colonel John conditioned by Mark Casse. She failed to challenge in her first two starts on grass, but turned things around when switched to dirt Dec. 22, when she pulled away to score by 3 3/4 lengths in a 6-furlong maiden dash at Aqueduct.

"I thought her last race was very strong," Casse said. "She's a filly that we really liked. ... She had some things go wrong—she had a foot that was bothering her. I was disappointed in her first couple of starts, but then we switched her to dirt, and her last race was very powerful."

Love of My Heart’s stiffest challenge could come from Cruise and Danze. A frontrunning maiden winner at Laurel Park, Cruise and Danze faded to fifth when she stepped up in class for Laurel’s Smart Halo S. but nearly rebounded to the winner’s circle when beaten a nose in a six-furlong allowance race at Aqueduct on Dec. 14.

"She ran a big race the last time I shipped her up (to Aqueduct). I felt that she was just on the wrong side of the head bob," trainer Jeremiah O'Dwyer said. "I would prefer the race was 6 furlongs, because she has a lot of speed. From what I've seen out of her in the mornings, she seems to be a very fast filly, but in a very relaxed manner. She's not too keen or rank, which is a good thing. I'm hopeful she can get 7 furlongs."

The distance shouldn’t be any obstacle for Miss Marissa, who broke her maiden by five lengths when traversing a one-turn mile at Belmont Park. The James Ryerson-trained filly had previously finished second behind future Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) champion British Idiom in a 6-furlong maiden sprint at Saratoga, which suggests the distance of the Ruthless will fall right in her wheelhouse.

Sold for just $11,000 as a yearling, Miss Marissa will look to rebound after she finished off the board in both the Frizette (G1) and Demoiselle (G2).

Completing the Ruthless field are the maiden winners Panthera Onca, Bay Jewel, Well Brush Mytooth, The New Miami, Wicked Amber, and Wiggle and Jiggle. With the exception of The New Miami, a winner of a $40,000 maiden claiming race Dec. 21 at Aqueduct, all will be stepping up in class off defeats in allowance races.

The Ruthless is the seventh race of the afternoon, with a post time of 3:53 p.m. ET.