MANY of us will want to forget the year 2020. Those connected with the top juvenile filly of 2018, Newspaperofrecord, will want to forget 2019 and concentrate on much happier times so far in 2020.

Hugely impressive in the Breeders’ Cup, making it three from three at two, the Lope De Vega filly had been quoted in 1000 Guineas markets but failed to win last year and her three race campaign ended when she was last of nine in the Belmont Oaks last July.

She won a seven-furlong Grade 3 at Belmont in early June to indicate she had maintained her ability and stepped up to the mile in the Grade 1 Just A Game at the same track on Saturday. Irad Oritz Jr guided her to a perfect run, getting a clear lead early to a half mile in 48secs, taking back and allowing her rivals to close but quickening away again of the bend to come clear for a three-length win from Beau Recall and a disappointing Uni. Her final time was 1m 35.62secs.

“Last year was a disappointment,” Ortiz said, “but she’s come back the right way this year. She has a good trainer behind her.”

It was a fourth consecutive victory for Chad Brown in the Just a Game Stakes for fillies and mares.

“It’s a great race to win. I’m very happy,” Brown said.

Reflecting on last season, he added: “It was mental more than physical so we turned her out, we let her grow into herself.

“She looks great. She’s grown a lot. She was a small filly at two, wiry-looking, but she’s broadened out now. She’s relaxed in the morning, and the cutback in distance is part of the reason why she’s looking so good. We’re running her at the right distances.

“I’m proud of her and proud of my staff for the job they have done with her. She’s training so comfortably. They brought her into the paddock looking magnificent.”

Graded contests

The other graded races on the Belmont Park card included the Grade 2 New York Stakes which went to the odds-on favourite in the Graham Motion-trained Mad Mary (Scat Daddy) who ran out an easy winner by over five lengths in the mile-and-two turf contest.

Firenze Fire also had little trouble in the Grade 2 True North Stakes with his main opposition Promises Fulfilled absent.

The six-and-a-half-furlong event was the first win for Firenze Fire has made since he moved to Kelly Breen’s barn having previously been trained by Jason Servis, who in March was indicted on federal charges related to the alleged administration of performance-enhancing drugs to horses.