Acorn Stakes 2023: Odds, free PPs for Ky. Oaks winner's return

Flashy sprinter Munnys Gold and Pretty Mischievous, winner of her division’s biggest race, square off Friday at Belmont Park.

Munnys Gold is the slight 9-5 morning-line favorite for the Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn Stakes. Post time is scheduled for 5:14 p.m. EDT, with FS1 showing the 1 1/16-mile event for 3-year-old fillies.

The last time racing fans saw Munnys Gold and Pretty Mischievous (2-1) in action was May 5 at Churchill Downs.

Pretty Mischievous won the day’s feature, the Kentucky Oaks (G1) at 10-1 odds. Adding blinkers off a runner-up finish in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2), she kicked clear in the upper stretch and held off late-running Gambling Girl by a neck.

The Into Mischief filly backs up by a 16th of a mile and will run Friday at one turn for the first time this season. Trainer Brendan Walsh and jockey Tyler Gaffalione team up with the Godolphin homebred.

Hours before Pretty Mischievous upset the Kentucky Oaks, Munnys Gold was on the other end of a surprising result in the seven-furlong Eight Belles Stakes (G2). She went off the 2-5 favorite but took her first career loss, coming up a head shy of Red Carpet Ready after a stretch battle.

Todd Pletcher trains the Munnings filly, who will have jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. up. She is 3-for-4 for owners Lawana and Robert Low and won a Tampa Bay stakes race by 17 1/4 lengths two starts back in March.

Munnys Gold will carry 118 pounds in the Acorn as compared to 123 for Pretty Mischievous.

Outside of those two fillies, Randomized (5-1) carries the shortest odds of the six other Acorn Stakes starters. She makes her stakes bow for trainer Chad Brown off a geared-down, 5 1/2-length maiden win March 31 at Aqueduct.

Accede (8-1) is another of Brown’s three Acorn entries. She was third in the Eight Belles, 1 3/4 lengths behind runner-up Munnys Gold.

Dorth Vader (10-1) makes her first start for George Weaver’s barn after previously running for Florida-based trainer Michael Yates. The Davona Dale Stakes (G2) winner outran her 29-1 odds in the Kentucky Oaks, finishing fifth.

The Acorn Stakes is a bridge for the 3-year-old filly division between the Kentucky Oaks and summer events like the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and Alabama Stakes (G1). Notable recent victors include Eclipse Award honorees Gamine (2020), Monomoy Girl (2018) and Abel Tasman (2017).

1. Dorth Vader (George Weaver, John Velazquez), 10-1

2. Randomized (Chad Brown, Manny Franco), 5-1

3. Frosty O Toole (Todd Pletcher, Luis Saez), 20-1

4. Occult (Chad Brown, Jose Ortiz), 12-1

5. Munnys Gold (Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz Jr.), 9-5

6. Pretty Mischievous (Brendan Walsh, Tyler Gaffalione), 2-1

7. Goodgirl Badhabits (Brittany Russell, Jevian Toledo), 10-1

8. Accede (Chad Brown, Flavien Prat), 8-1

TimeformUS pace projections show favorite Munnys Gold under Ortiz leading a three-filly battle for the early lead and setting a rapid pace.

Other Friday stakes

Here is a look at a quartet of other graded stakes that will run Friday at Belmont Park. All post times are EDT.

2:28 p.m. – $500,000 Just a Game Stakes (G1), 4-and-up fillies and mares, one mile (turf), FS2

In Italian (1-2) has won three Grade 1 races since finishing third in the 2022 Just a Game, with her most recent top-level score coming April 15 in Keeneland’s Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1). Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. rides the 5-year-old Dubawi mare for trainer Chad Brown. Graham Motion trains Spendarella (2-1), the 2022 Del Mar Oaks (G1) heroine who was second May 6 as 4-5 favorite in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2). The Bill Mott-trained Wakanaka (8-1), a Grade 2 winner, was fourth in the Distaff Turf Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

In Italian leads Chad Brown contingent for Just a Game | Division rankings: Belmont weekend brings out the stars

4:41 p.m. – $600,000 New York Stakes (G1), 4-and-up fillies and mares, 1 1/4 miles (turf), FS2

War Like Goddess (4-5) has two Grade 1 wins to her name for Mott, including against male runners last October at Aqueduct in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1). Off a Bewitch Stakes (G3) win April 28 at Keeneland, the 6-year-old English Channel mare runs for a third Grade 1 triumph Friday under jockey Joel Rosario. Charlie Appleby trains Jenny Wiley runner-up With the Moonlight (9-2), who was second May 7 in a Group 2 race at Newmarket. Didia (5-1), a Group 1 winner in Argentina, won her fourth straight U.S. race and seventh straight start overall May 5 when taking Churchill Downs’s Modesty Stakes (G3).

5:47 p.m. – $250,000 Belmont Gold Cup Stakes (G2), 4-and-up, two miles (turf), FS1

Siskany (8-5), winner of a Group 3 start three races back in Dubai, makes his U.S. bow Friday for Appleby in this marathon event. Jockey William Buick will be up on the 5-year-old Dubawi gelding. Christophe Clement trains Amazing Grace (6-1), a Group 2 winner in Germany who battles the boys after finishing fourth May 5 at Belmont in the Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G2). The Mott-trained 2020 champion turf male Channel Maker (8-1) lines up for career start No. 53 after running sixth May 13 in the local Man o’ War Stakes (G1).

6:19 p.m. – $200,000 Intercontinental Stakes (G3), 4-and-up fillies and mares, six furlongs (turf), FS2

Bubble Rock (5-2), a Grade 2 victor, aims for back-to-back stakes scores after taking the local License Fee Stakes on May 7. Trainer Brad Cox and Rosario team up with the 4-year-old More Than Ready filly. Jonathan Thomas trains Bay Storm (3-1), runner-up May 5 at Churchill on the Kentucky Oaks (G1) undercard in the Unbridled Sidney Stakes. Poppy Flower (9-2) for Mott was runner-up in the License Fee, hitting the wire a half-length shy of Bubble Rock.