Aqueduct: Dance Card still has work to do

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Kiaran McLaughlin said that Dance Card came out of her four-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Gazelle in good shape, but the trainer remains concerned about the filly’s tendency to drift in her races.

Dance Card has won four consecutive races, but she has drifted out significantly in her last three starts.

“When a horse is bad in the gate you take them to the gate and school them and watch them get better,” McLaughlin said. “She doesn’t drift in the morning, she doesn’t do anything wrong. I’m sure it’s not soundness issues, but it’s a concern. We’re going to work on something whether it’s blinkers or some kind of equipment change. Now that she’s a Grade 1 winner, we have to tinker with it a little bit.”

McLaughlin said he would take Dance Card to south Florida later this week, but he might look to run her in the inaugural $400,000 Houston Classic at Sam Houston on Jan. 26.