Aqueduct handicapping roundup: Week of Dec. 14

Racing shifts to inner track

With the main-track portion of the Aqueduct season completed for another year, it’s time to do some accounting before looking ahead to a long winter run on the inner dirt.

The main-track meet was a likely preview of what is to come this winter, at least from a trainer standings perspective, with David Jacobson (who saddled an amazing 107 starters) leading Rudy Rodriguez in wins by a count of 25 to 18. During last year’s inner-track meet, it was Rodriguez (41) who came out ahead of Jacobson (34).

Javier Castellano led all riders with 33 winners, including a six-win day on Saturday, Nov. 9. With Castellano heading south for the winter, the battle for leading rider on the inner dirt may come down to the Ortiz brothers once again. Last year, after a long battle, it was Irad prevailing over Jose 79-76.

Looking ahead, there will be some changes to the racing schedule to take note of. Starting Jan. 9, racing will shift to a Thursday-Monday schedule, with Tuesdays and Wednesdays dark. Then, in February, Aqueduct will go back to the four-day week it debuted last year, with racing Fridays through Mondays.

The graded stakes schedule will be a little light over the winter, but there will be a series of two-turn races for 3-year-olds leading up to the Grade 1 Wood Memorial in April – the Grade 2 Jerome on Jan. 4, Grade 3 Withers on Feb. 1, and the Grade 3 Gotham on March 1.

Late-season 2-year-olds

It’s not exactly Saratoga, but the Aqueduct fall meet annually yields some interesting 2-year-olds to follow. This year was no exception, with impressive maiden winners from some top stables making their mark. Todd Pletcher had Trail Blaze, an Indian Charlie colt for the connections of Curlin and Rachel Alexandra, who cruised to an easy debut win sprinting with a 92 Beyer Speed Figure; and Matterhorn, a $625,000 purchase for the Coolmore team who handled a mile first out at a surprising 13-1.

Chad Brown had a pair of juvenile colts up their game, with second-time starter Cousin Stephen adding blinkers and stretching out to nine furlongs to demolish a field by more than seven lengths with an 81 Beyer; and a surprising race by Groupthink, a previous disappointment as a three-time losing favorite, cutting back in distance over a muddy track and earning a 95 Beyer while narrowly defeating Uncle Sigh, a promising first-time starter from Gary Contessa’s barn who became a horse to watch after overcoming a tough trip to just miss in that fast race.

The first race on Nov. 9 also may become a race to keep an eye on as it marked the debut of both Coup de Grace, another Brown trainee who is from the family of champion Jewel Princess; and Unknown Road, a Bernardini colt trained by Mike Hushion who is a half-brother to another female champion, Banshee Breeze. They ran one-two in that race, earning solid figures of 85 and 83, respectively.

All of that took place in the shadow, of course, of the Grade 2 Remsen, which, despite the much discussed crawling pace, featured two of the more talented colts of this crop in Honor Code and Cairo Prince.

Classy mares

The Touch of Love Stakes on Dec. 6 could be looked at as just another in the long line of overnight stakes run around here these days, but the likelihood of it being the final career race for both Willet and Miss Valentine gives it some added significance. A pair of New York-bred mares that combined to make 41 starts, with 16 wins and earnings of more than $1 million, Willet and Miss Valentine were mainstays in the statebred stakes program over the past few years, squaring off against each other five times dating back to last year’s Iroquois Stakes, with Willet proving to be the better of the two in each of those matchups. Here’s hoping there are at least two more like them out there somewhere.