Aqueduct: Class drop, pace should suit Whistleblower
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Whistleblower, who kept tough company after a maiden win early at the inner track meet, drops to the $50,000 optional claiming/starter allowance ranks in Thursday’s eighth race.
Whistleblower returned from a five-month layoff for trainer Ken McPeek and beat maiden sprinters impressively enough to run back five weeks later in the Count Fleet Stakes, where he finished sixth behind Alpha. He then turned back to a six-furlong allowance and ran a close fourth to Hardened Wildcat, who returned to take the Fred “Cappy” Capossela Stakes.
Whistleblower tried two turns again most recently, but never threatened behind Romancing the Gold, who is now under consideration for the Wood Memorial.
Turning back to six furlongs, Whistleblower figures to benefit from contested fractions as Mark It Man, Political Justice, Hooked On Dance, No Flaws, and Mr. Ast all like to mix it up early.
Political Justice, based at Fair Hill for Tony Dutrow, has won or placed in all four of his dirt starts. He ran second in a photo most recently against the speedy Yo Koffy, who was coming off a pacesetting try in the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes here.
Ventura Bar, a maiden winner first time off a claim by David Jacobson two weeks ago, completes the lineup.
Oddly enough, race 9, a $55,000 maiden special weight for New York-bred fillies and mares scheduled for turf, is the richest race on the program.
Tom Albertrani sends out morning-line favorite Elusive Rumour and also second-choice Lemon Sundae.
Both are bred well for the grass. Elusive Rumour, who finished in the money in two of three starts on the inner dirt, is a homebred half-sister to three horses that earned more than $100,000 on grass, among them Beebe Lake, a minor stakes winner who won on soft Aqueduct turf. Lemon Sundae’s dam, Lemon Meringue, is a half-sister to Class Kris, a multiple graded stakes winner on turf.
◗ Hessonite, who won the Ticonderoga to close out a promising 3-year-old campaign for David Donk, worked six furlongs in 1:15.46 on the Belmont training track Tuesday. A likely first objective for the Freud filly is the Grade 3, $150,000 Beaugay at Belmont Park on May 5.
◗ C C’s Pal, winner of the Garland of Roses and Ladies Handicap at the winter meet for Richard Dutrow Jr., breezed five furlongs at Aqueduct in a bullet 1:02.66.