OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Cupid’s Heart doesn’t run very often, but when she does she usually performs very well. Saturday, the now 6-year-old Cupid’s Heart makes just her 11th career start – and first since June – in a second-level allowance/optional $62,500 claiming race that serves as the feature on Aqueduct’s 10-race card. There are no stakes races scheduled at Aqueduct until the April 5 Wood Memorial card. Cupid’s Heart has a 4-1-4 record from 10 starts. She won at first asking at 2, won her 3-year-old debut off a near 10-month layoff, and was victorious in her lone start of 2024, which came off an 8 1/2-month layoff. Over the years, Cupid’s Heart has had chips taken out of an ankle and a knee. Cupid’s Heart was training last November when she developed a foot abscess that took an inordinate amount of time to heal, trainer Bruce Levine said. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Cupid’s Heart has had an uninterrupted work pattern since late January, and Levine has liked what he’s seen in the morning. “She’s the same; if she wasn’t training good we’d stop on her,” said Levine, who noted Cupid’s Heart’s last breeze was timed in 48 seconds for a half-mile with a strong gallop-out. Levine said he’d prefer to run Cupid’s Heart a little longer than the six furlongs this race offers, but he didn’t want to wait another month to run. Over the last three years, Levine is 8 for 28 with a $2.16 return on investment with horses returning from layoffs of more than 180 days. Moreover, Levine has won with two of his last six starters at Aqueduct, both of whom were coming off three-month layoffs. Javier Castellano, who is 3 for 6 on Cupid’s Heart, is aboard as he begins his transition back to New York, besides next weekend and a few days at Keeneland. Striker Has Dial ran the race of her life winning a first-level allowance race by 3 3/4 lengths on Jan. 25, earning a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure. That was her first start at six furlongs on dirt after making her previous starts at seven furlongs or a mile. Trainer Horacio De Paz said it was jockey Kendrick Carmouche who recommended the cutback. “Kendrick felt sprinting there’d be more horses that would have the lead on her, she could sit close to them and then finish,” De Paz said. “It was not a failed experiment.” De Paz said it was by design that he gave Striker Has Dial nearly two months between starts. “She’s a little bit on the smaller side, I wanted not to rush her and just freshen her up more than anything,” he said. Striker Has Dial drew the outside post in this seven-horse field. Everyoneloveslinda was reclaimed by Linda Rice for $62,500 out of a three-quarter-length defeat to Sunday Girl here Feb. 1. Sunday Girl came out of that race to win the Correction Stakes three weeks ago. Rice, who has 11 entered on Saturday’s card, also sends out Golden Degree, who was fourth in that Feb. 1 race and figures to be part of the pace in this race. Caldwell Luvs Gold, Proud Foot, and Cara’s Time complete the field. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.