Aqueduct: Samraat, Uncle Sigh work for Wood Memorial

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Samraat and Uncle Sigh, the one-two finishers in both the Grade 3 Withers and Grade 3 Gotham, remain in lockstep, at least as far as their preparation for the $1 million Wood Memorial on April 5 is concerned, as both 3-year-olds returned to the work tab Saturday.

At Belmont Park, Uncle Sigh worked five furlongs in 1:01.79 over the training track, getting his last quarter-mile in 24.01 seconds while under minimal encouragement from exercise rider Nick Santagata. Uncle Sigh galloped out six furlongs in 1:15.08.

“Effortlessly like that, that’s what you want,” trainer Gary Contessa said, referring to the final quarter of the work. “The horse is telling us he’s still really right on track, so we’re good. Big hurdle April 5, but God willing, we’ll be there.”

Uncle Sigh was beaten a length by Samraat in the Withers and only a neck in the Gotham. In addition to having the worst of the trips in both races, Uncle Sigh has had to train around harsh winter weather, which at one point closed the Belmont training track for four straight days.

“The weather’s breaking, the track’s good, we haven’t missed any training,” Contessa said. “We might actually be uninterrupted training into the Wood.”

Meanwhile, at the Palm Meadows training center in warm south Florida, Samraat worked a half-mile in 50 seconds. Jockey Jose Ortiz flew from New York to Florida on Friday night, worked the horse early Saturday morning, and then caught a plane back to New York to ride Saturday’s card at Aqueduct.

Rick Violette said he and owner Len Riggio wanted Ortiz to work Samraat to give them a better idea of how the horse came out of the Gotham, his fifth win in as many career starts.

“He came out of the Gotham a little better than he did the Withers,” said Violette, who called Saturday’s work “something to stretch his legs.”

Violette said Samraat will have a couple of more workouts at Palm Meadows before returning to New York the week of the Wood. He said Ortiz probably would not return to work the horse again.

Havana eyes Bay Shore

Havana, who had to scratch out of the Swale Stakes on March 1 due to a quarter crack, has returned to training at Palm Meadows and is eyeing the Grade 2, $300,000 Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct on April 5 for his 3-year-old debut.

Trainer Todd Pletcher said Havana, the winner of last year’s Grade 1 Champagne and a finalist for the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male, has resumed galloping.

“He’s been galloping for about a week. I should be able to get two breezes into him,” Pletcher said. “He was in and ready to run. I think it’s an achievable goal if we don’t have setbacks.”

Tightend Touchdown to miss Dubai

Tightend Touchdown, the runner-up to Mizdirection in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, will be forced to miss a scheduled trip to Dubai for the Al Quoz Stakes on March 29 due to a “bad virus,” trainer Jason Servis said Saturday.

Servis said Tightend Touchdown was scheduled to depart for Dubai on Monday, but he had a temperature in the middle of the week, and when it wouldn’t go down, the gelding was shipped to Palm Beach Equine Clinic. He was being pointed to the Al Quoz Stakes, a five-furlong race on turf.

“That’s a huge bummer,” Servis said. “The whole barn is down.”

Itsagoodtendollars dies at 8

Itsagoodtendollars, a popular 8-year-old New York-bred gelding by Tale of the Cat, suffered a fatal cardiovascular collapse during training Saturday. Once the subject of an 18-way shake at Saratoga, Itsagoodtendollars had been in the barn of eight trainers, most recently Jeremiah Englehart, who won a starter allowance with him Jan. 25.

Itsagoodtendollars had a record of 10-10-10 from 42 starts and earned $444,052.

“One of the coolest horses you could ever be around,” Engelhart said. “Very sad. It’s one of the things about this sport you never get used to – and shouldn’t.”