With blinkers making the difference, Protective Custody tries longer
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Thus far, blinkers have seemed to improve the performance of Protective Custody. Trainer Shug McGaughey hopes added distance will also benefit the 4-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper when she tries 1 3/8 miles for the first time in Sunday’s second-level allowance/optional-claiming feature on Aqueduct’s nine-race card.
Both of Protective Custody’s career victories – including a last-out score – have come at 1 1/8 miles. McGaughey added blinkers to Protective Custody’s equipment two starts back and she finished third in a 1 1/16-mile allowance on April 18 at Laurel Park that proved quite productive. Three horses – including Protective Custody – came out of that race to win their next starts, including Coach Mazzula, who won the Hilltop Stakes. A fourth horse came within a neck of winning an allowance.
Protective Custody came back on May 3 to win a first-level allowance by 3 1/2 lengths, attending a pedestrian pace and drawing clear in the final sixteenth.
“Maturity, blinkers, and a distance of ground,” McGaughey said about Protective Custody’s seeming improvement. “We’ll see where it takes us Sunday. I thought her race the other day was really good.”
Protective Custody is a half-sister to Limited Liability who did win the 2024 Nashville Gold Cup at 2 1/16 miles while also placing in a pair of graded stakes at 1 1/2 miles at Gulfstream Park and Keeneland.
“I think a mile and three-eighths will be fine,” McGaughey said.
Jose Lezcano rides from post 5 in this six-horse field.
Relaxx, a daughter of City of Light, was Group 3-placed at 1 1/8 miles in France. Trainer Miguel Clement ran Relaxx in the one-mile Plenty of Grace Stakes on April 17 where she finished fifth. Clement said he believes Relaxx wants more ground than a mile but how much farther is something he’ll learn Sunday.
“Does she want 11 furlongs? Not sure, it’s an experiment,” Clement said. “She raced in the back and was disinterested in that mile race. Stretching her is a question of how much and how far.
Flavien Prat has picked up the mount.
Trainer Brendan Walsh has shipped in a pair for this race. Snipsnippitysnip is coming off a first-level allowance win at this distance at Churchill Downs on May 25. He has made two previous starts at Aqueduct, both in races at 1 1/16 miles, finishing third and fourth.
Walsh also sends out Massarat, who is winless in two starts this year in this condition, though she had a wide trip when finishing fourth going this distance at Churchill on May 15.
Sol d’Oro, trained by Joe Sharp, is another Kentucky shipper. She finished eighth in the same race that Massarat was fourth.
Lady Firefoot, an 8-year-old mare, is entered back nine days after finishing fourth, beaten two lengths by Peak Hype, in this condition going 1 1/16 miles. Lady Firefoot is a three-time winner at Aqueduct, including a victory in this condition in May 2025. She is the only one in this field being offered for the optional claiming price of $80,000.
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