Photo:

Chelsea Durand / Eclipse Sportswire

Post-time favorite Running Away led the field of six
3-year-old fillies from gate to wire Saturday at Aqueduct on her way to a
2 1/4-length victory in the 52nd running of the black-type, $125,000 Busanda Stakes,
a 1 1/8-mile points prep for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.

Bred and owned by Stud TNT and trained by Wesley Ward, the
daughter of Gun Runner broke sharply from post 6 and hustled to the lead under jockey
Sahin Civaci. Running Away (3-2) established fractions of 23.83, 48.50, 1:13.54
and 1:38.93 on her way to a winning time of 1:52.23 on the fast main track.

Click here for Aqueduct entries and results.

My Sherrona (6-1) stalked to the outside and Sharp Smile (7-2)
along the rail, but neither threatened to steal the race from Running Away.

“I had instructions from Wesley Ward to take the lead, and
looking at the form, I saw (Sharp Smile) had speed, (My Sherrona) had a little
bit of speed,” Civaci said. “If they were going to send hard, I would have sat
off of them, but luckily (Sharp Smile) stumbled a little bit, and I managed to
get the lead. Just took care of it with easy fractions, and she is a nice horse.
She kicked on well.”

My Sherrona finished second, Sharp Smile third, Ramify (3-1)
fourth and Beautiful Blome (24-1) fifth. They divvied up the Oaks qualifying
points on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis. Ruth (5-1) nearly went to her knees coming out
of the gate, and she finished last. Bless the Broken, Carmen’s Candy Jar and Bernieandtherose were scratched.

Running Away paid $5.10, $3.50 and $2.70; My Sherrona $6.30 and $3.40; and Sharp Smile $2.60.

The winning connections said they will be choosing from
races like the 1 1/16-mile Ashland (G1) on April 4 at Keeneland and the 1 1/8-mile Gazelle (G3) on
April 5 at Aqueduct.

“My home track is Keeneland, and I try to run everything
here,” Ward said by telephone from Kentucky. “With the Ashland being around the
same time (as the Gazelle), we’ll have a discussion with (Stud TNT’s) Gonçalo
Torrealba and his team and make a decision as we get closer.”

A frontrunner in all four of her starts, Running Away broke
her maiden last out, running away by five lengths going 1 1/16 miles Nov. 30 at
Churchill Downs. Out of Unbridled’s Song mare Allez Marie, she is 2-for-2 on
dirt after finishing second and third in two turf starts to start her career.