Bees and Honey Hands Reeve McGaughey First Graded Score
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Susie Raisher
Bees and Honey wins the Comely Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack
Trainer J. Reeve McGaughey took one step closer to following in his Hall of Fame father's footsteps when he sent out his first graded stakes winner in Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen's Bees and Honey , who captured the $200,000 Comely Stakes (G3) for sophomore fillies going 1 1/8 miles Nov. 26 at Aqueduct Racetrack.
En route to providing the younger McGaughey with his first graded stakes score, Bees and Honey ran in a first-level allowance event on Nov. 7 at Churchill Downs, closing late to finish second at 16-1 odds behind graded stakes-placed Amendment Nineteen .
"I spent a few years up in New York and always enjoyed going to Aqueduct," said McGaughey, son of Shug McGaughey. "It just worked out that this race fell on the calendar as the last chance against 3-year-old fillies, so we took a chance."
Breaking a touch slowly from post 5, Bees and Honey was four-wide into the first turn as second choice Played Hard commanded the pace through an easy opening quarter-mile in :25.49 over the fast main track. Vegas Weekend , who entered off a four-race win streak, kept close company to her outside in second under a hold from jockey Manny Franco.
Played Hard maintained her command through a half-mile in :50.18 while Bees and Honey inched her way closer to the front under coaxing from Jose Lezcano. Bees and Honey battled to the outside of Played Hard in the first half of the stretch drive and drew off to win by 2 3/4 lengths in a time of 1:54.41. Played Hard held second by a half-length over the late-in-gear favorite Crazy Beautiful , who was in pursuit of her fourth graded stakes triumph.
Shalimar Gardens , Vegas Weekend, and Hybrid Eclipse completed the order of finish. Army Wife and Ninetypercentbrynn were scratched.
"She broke really good today and I sat there. I lost a little ground in the first turn but she was pretty comfortable," said Lezcano, who earlier on the program captured the Forever Together aboard Flower Point for the elder McGaughey. "On the backside, I dropped a little in and stayed comfortable the whole way around. She's a big filly and I started a little early at the five-sixteenths pole. She started gaining ground and when I really asked her; she looked good."
The Comely was the first start beyond one mile for Bees and Honey. McGaughey said the distance played a big factor in shipping to Aqueduct.
"We really didn't have a chance to run her long like that and in all of her races she's shown she'll run as far as they'll let her run," McGaughey said. "Every race she's run, she's gotten stronger in the last eighth of a mile. Coming up there to run a mile and an eighth on that track was a big part of it."
McGaughey said the addition of blinkers for her maiden score in October at Keeneland played a major role in Bees and Honey's improved form.
"They've focused her a little bit," McGaughey said. "She wasn't quite running a full race for us the first couple times. She was really spotty, and it's got her to be more consistent throughout the race."
McGaughey, who will send horses to Tampa Bay Downs for the winter, said Bees and Honey would likely stop in Ocala for a brief freshening before joining his winter contingent at Tampa.
"We'll figure that out in the next couple days, but she'll start heading south," McGaughey said.
Kendrick Carmouche, aboard Crazy Beautiful, said his filly was hampered after being bumped at the start.
"She stumbled leaving there and I wanted to be more forward than out the back door. It didn't set up the way I wanted," Carmouche said. "They were going easy up front and I tried to get her up there so when the running started, she wouldn't have so much to overcome."
Bees and Honey, a chestnut daughter of Union Rags , rewarded her backers in payouts of $28.20 for a $2 win wager as the second longest shot in the six-horse field. She banked $110,000 in victory, enhancing her lifetime bankroll to $180,700.
Bred in Kentucky by Gainesway Thoroughbreds and AR Enterprises, Bees and Honey is the second of two foals out of the Smart Strike mare Wickedly Smart —a half sister to grade 1 winner Wickedly Perfect . The dam was barren for 2019 and was last reported to have aborted for 2020.
Also Friday at Aqueduct, Steve Feiger's homebred Flower Point captured the fifth running of the $145,500 Forever Together Stakes and Never Surprised rolled in course-record time in the $150,000 Gio Ponti Stakes.
Flower Point, a 5-year-old Point of Entry mare, raced 1 1/16 miles on good turf in 1:42.28 under Lezcano. The Shug McGaughey trainee scored by a neck and paid $3.30 as the favorite. Giacosa ran second, four lengths head by Sailingintothewind in third. Mucha Mezquina and Speaktomeofsummer rounded out the order of finish.
Never Surprised, a 3-year-old by Constitution trained by Todd Pletcher for Repole Stable, led throughout, racing 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.75 under Carmouche. Safe Conduct , Gussy Mac , and Ocala Dream ran second, third, and fourth in a blanket finish for the minor awards.
Bred in Kentucky by Golden Pedigree, Never Surprised was a $200,000 purchase by his owner from the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from Select Sales, agent for Machmer Hall. The winner returned $3.40 Friday for a $2 wager.