Aqueduct: Noble Moon likely to skip Gotham Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While she didn’t completely rule it out, trainer Leah Gyarmati said Monday that it is unlikely Jerome Stakes winner Noble Moon will make the Grade 3, $500,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 1.

It is more likely that Noble Moon will train up to the $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 5, Gyarmati said.

Following the Jerome, Noble Moon missed approximately three weeks of training due to a foot problem, and with less than three weeks until the Gotham, he has not yet recorded a timed workout since resuming training. Gyarmati was planning to work Noble Moon on Tuesday or Wednesday. Still, Gyarmati didn’t think there was enough time to get Noble Moon properly fit for the Gotham.

“I’m not going to say I’m not going to make it, but I’m going to guess that would be pushing it,” Gyarmati said Monday at Belmont Park, where Noble Moon galloped. “I can’t imagine doing that without pushing the whole issue.”

Noble Moon has run three times, winning a maiden race, finishing a troubled third in the Nashua Stakes, and, on Jan. 4, winning the Jerome off a two-month layoff. That Noble Moon has run well fresh and has shown three different running styles gives Gyarmati some confidence that waiting for the Wood is doable.

“He’s had some experience doing different things,” she said. “It’s not like we have to keep teaching him something.”

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

Gyarmati said she doesn’t want to do something that could compromise Noble Moon’s entire 3-year-old campaign.

“You can’t make it happen,” she said. “You’re dealt certain cards, and you play the cards you’re dealt. If you push it, you’ve got nothing left for the rest of the year.”

Gyarmati said it is “possible” that Deceived could run in the Gotham. Deceived, like Noble Moon, is owned by Jeff Treadway. Deceived is a son of Broken Vow who won a first-level New York-bred allowance by 8 1/4 lengths Jan. 31.