Alysheba Stakes next target for Olympiad
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While Bill Mott was scheduled to run Speaker’s Corner in Saturday’s Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct, he has made a tentative plan for his other top older dirt male runner Olympiad.
Mott said Olympiad would most likely make his next start in the Grade 2, $500,000 Alysheba Stakes on May 6 at Churchill Downs. Olympiad is 3 for 3 this year, with victories at Fair Grounds in the Grade 3 Mineshaft and Grade 2 New Orleans Classic. While Mott said after the New Orleans Classic that he would like to knock out a Grade 1 next with Olympiad, he said the current options weren’t attractive to him.
“You either back up to a mile in the Met Mile or go to California and run a mile and a quarter” in the Hollywood Gold Cup, Mott said. “Right now, we’re considering staying a little bit closer to home and the first option is the Alysheba.”
Olympiad is at Payson Park in Florida, Mott’s winter base.
Meanwhile, the Mott-trained Art Collector is at Belmont Park with no definitive plan. Art Collector ran 12th in the Saudi Cup on Feb. 26, but only recently returned to the United States after travel delays from Saudi Arabia.
“We missed three weeks of training that we didn’t want to lose,” Mott said. “We’ll be catching up.”
◗ Kendrick Carmouche, the leading rider with nine wins through the first five days of the short spring meet, will miss the upcoming three-day race week while he serves a suspension.
Carmouche was given a three-day ban by the stewards for his ride on Crostata B in the eighth race on March 31. Crostata B finished second, but was disqualified to sixth for interfering with Limit Up in midstretch. Carmouche will sit out Thursday through Saturday. There is no racing Easter Sunday.