OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A fabulous year for trainer Mike Miceli ended in the most fitting way Sunday at Aqueduct with Mrs. Orb winning the $100,000 Bay Ridge Stakes by a nose over Lucky Move in the final stakes of the year on the New York Racing Association circuit. With a stable of about a dozen horses, Miceli, 72, completed 2019 with 22 wins from 77 starters, a .285 winning percentage. The 22 wins were one shy of his best year in 2003 when he won 23 races. His $802,587 in purse earnings were a career high. The Bay Ridge, for New York-bred fillies and mares, was Miceli’s first stakes victory since Minnie Punt won the Kingston Stakes at Belmont in 2010. He had only run in 13 stakes since. “I just had a nice group of horses,” Miceli said. “My owners have been very cooperative. We try to place them in spots where they can win and the horses are delivering.” Mrs. Orb, a 4-year-old daughter of Kentucky Derby winner Orb, certainly delivered in 2019, winning five races from eight starts including her last four. Miceli felt if there was ever a time to take a shot in a stakes race with her, the Bay Ridge was it. A field of seven scratched down to five with the defections of Fight On Lucy and Held Accountable. Dylan Davis had Mrs. Orb a close-up fourth and in the clear behind a pedestrian pace dictated by Out of Orbit and pressed by Cartwheel. Out of Orbit went six furlongs in 1:17.83. Out of Orbit was still in front turning for home but Davis and Mrs. Orb took over approaching the eighth pole. Things got scary in the final furlong as Lucky Move, under Kendrick Carmouche, was charging at her and got her head in front a jump before the wire, but Mrs. Orb got her head down at the right time. “I really thought that I didn’t get the bob but she got the bob,” Davis said. “I was disappointed galloping back but I saw she got her head down on the wire right when we needed it.” Mrs. Orb, owned by Miceli, Ruggeri Stable, Script R Farm and Richard Coburn, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:56.14 and returned $11. Though Mrs. Orb’s three previous wins came at one turn, Miceli was confident she could get the 1 1/8 miles and two turns. “She has a nice idling speed where she can run long at a nice steady pace, that’s probably her best go,” Miceli said. “She was just on cruise control most of the way.” Carmouche said despite the slow fractions he wouldn’t have ridden Lucky Move any differently. “You got to ride the horse the way the horse runs, don’t take it away from them,” he said. Lucky Move finished second by 3 3/4 lengths over Out of Orbit. Our Super Nova, the 2-5 favorite, finished fourth after being bottled up on the inside most of the way. Cartwheel was last. Miceli said he would look to keep Mrs. Orb in restricted stakes in 2020, which could mean a start in the $100,000 Biogio’s Rose here on Feb. 9.