Aqueduct: Comma to the Top has Carter on itinerary

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – One day after his courageous nose victory over Saturday’s Charm in the Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap at Aqueduct, Comma to the Top was flown to south Florida on Sunday morning. But there are no plans to run him in Saturday’s Gulfstream Park Handicap.

“Definitely not,” trainer Peter Miller said Monday morning.

Certainly, traveling and running back on short rest weren’t detrimental last weekend to Comma to the Top, who won the $200,000 Tom Fool one week after finishing third in the San Carlos at Santa Anita. Still, Miller said he sent him to Florida – on the same flight as Top Flight winner Summer Applause and Gotham fifth-place finisher Overanalyze – as a pit-stop before his return to Southern California, which was scheduled for Tuesday.

However, if all goes well, Miller does intend to send Comma to the Top back to New York for the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct on April 6.

“We’re definitely thinking about sending him back for the Carter,” Miller said.

Miller said all reports were that Comma to the Top came out of his Tom Fool victory “super.” Comma to the Top was passed on the outside by Saturday’s Charm in deep stretch, but found some resolve and battled back under Joel Rosario to get the win.

“I’m not sure that Joel saw the horse on the outside, he was thinking Head Heart Hoof was the” main challenger, Miller said. “When Saturday’s Charm put a neck on us I thought we were going to run second or third. He just showed he’s got the heart of a champion.”

Miller had said last week that he had always wanted to get Rosario on Comma to the Top, but never could before Saturday.

“I thought they’d go together like peanut butter and jelly,” Miller said.

Comma to the Top, who earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure for the win, has won 12 of 28 starts and banked $1,180,696, all for owner Gary Barber.