For the second time, Sweet Rebecca made a good first impression. After overcoming a troubled trip to win her debut at Gulfstream in March, owner John Stewart purchased Sweet Rebecca from owners Mike Ryan and Brilliant Farm and trainer Brendan Walsh. Stewart turned the horse over to Chad Brown. On Sunday, in her first start for her new connections, Sweet Rebecca parlayed a beautiful trip and patient ride from Tyler Gaffalione to win the $125,000 Memories of Silver Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths at Aqueduct. Faith Understood, who got away with slow fractions up front, finished second by 1 1/4 lengths over Curlin’s Star, who nosed out Living Magic for third. Munny Grab was fifth followed by Youknownothing and Miss Mottley. Most of All scratched. The win may have earned Sweet Rebecca an overseas trip to England for the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 21. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2024: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more Stewart had mentioned to Brown a desire to run in Ascot shortly after he bought Sweet Rebecca following her March 10 debut. With that in mind, Brown said he chose to run Sweet Rebecca in the Memories of Silver rather than a race like the Edgewood at Churchill because he had a better feel for the Aqueduct course and knew the race would likely come up a bit easier than Friday’s Edgewood, a race that drew 14 including Brown’s undefeated Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Hard to Justify. Sunday’s effort confirmed Sweet Rebecca’s quality to Brown, who will now train her with Ascot in mind. “It was a really good race,” said Brown, who won this race for the fourth time in nine editions. “Yeah, she got a great trip, and it wasn’t a stellar field, but it was another step forward and it’s worth nominating to the Coronation and see how she’s training.” Gaffalione, who rode Sweet Rebecca on debut, came to New York to ride her in the Memories of Silver. Though Sweet Rebecca did toss her head a little bit early, she seemed to settle nicely into fourth down the backside, behind Faith Understood, who got away with an opening half-mile in 49.38 seconds while being stalked by Miss Mottley. Gaffalione bided his time until turning into the lane when he got Sweet Rebecca off the rail and set her sights on Faith Understood. With Gaffalione only waving his whip at her, Sweet Rebecca motored past Faith Understood inside the sixteenth pole. “I was trying to give myself the option to get out, but she was wanting to go forward so much I wound up being in the pocket,” Gaffalione told NYRA publicity. “But it opened up when we needed it to and she responded. She was much more professional today. She got herself out of the gate and into a good position. She settled down great down the backside.” Sweet Rebecca, a full sister to multiple graded stakes winner Sweet Melania - both are by American Pharoah out of the graded stakes winner Sweet n Discreet - covered the mile in 1:35.79 and returned $3 as the heavy favorite. Rice, Franco, Klaravich top meet Trainer Linda Rice, jockey Manny Franco and owner Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables finished as the leaders in their respective categories at Aqueduct’s 16-day spring meet. Rice, who won two races on Sunday’s card, finished with 18 winners, two more than Brown. Rudy Rodriguez was third with 10 wins. Franco ended the spring meet with 28 wins, eight more than Dylan Davis. Jose Lezcano, who missed this weekend due to a concussion, finished third with 18 wins. Klaravich Stables won 7 races, one more than Winning Move. Racing on this circuit resumes Thursday with the Belmont at Aqueduct spring meet. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.