Aqueduct: Speed the name of game in Thursday feature
There is no shortage of speed in Thursday’s feature, a $69,000 optional claimer with second-level allowance conditions that is carded as the seventh of eight races.
With the exception of the mudlark C C’s Pride, a confirmed closer, every horse in the field has been on the early lead in at least one of their last three starts. Surprisingly enough, that includes Expression, who set the pace to deep stretch when returned from a layoff at Belmont.
Expression normally comes from off the pace and will relish getting back to Aqueduct, where she has posted all six of her victories. Charlie Baker claimed the daughter of Invasor from a win against $35,000 maidens in January 2012, and she has earned more than $250,000 since then, with five wins on the inner dirt and one on the main track.
Expression and Trail Walker are in for the optional $62,500 claiming price.
Laguna Girl and Voodoo Tales are often forwardly placed and likely to contest the early issue with Alwaysthinkinofyou, who has led at the pace call in all four of her starts. She is trained by the Monmouth-based Luis Carvajal Jr.
Laguna Girl was beaten in a three-way photo after setting the pace here last fall and returned on the inner dirt a few weeks later to win the restricted Are We Dreamin Stakes wire to wire. She has been freshened since a failed turf experiment at Saratoga.
Voodoo Tales drops in class after returning from a layoff to run third at even-money in the recent Punkin Pie Stakes.
KEY CONTENDERS
EXPRESSION (Last 3 Beyers: 80-80-76)
◗ She is 6 for 13 at Aqueduct and 0 for 10 elsewhere.
◗ She gets a switch back to Irad Ortiz Jr., who caught fire last week to overtake Javier Castellano for the Belmont fall-meet title.
VOODOO TALES (Last 3 Beyers: 77-94-90)
◗ She is 4 for 8 since a trainer change to Nick Esler, beginning with a victory at Aqueduct’s 2013 fall meet.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT:No. 2 Voodoo Tales. Trainer Nicholas Esler is 41-13-3-7 with a $4.04 ROI over the past two years in dirt sprints at Aqueduct. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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◗ She is the lone entrant with two 90-plus Beyer Speed Figures, earned in back-to-back wins by a combined 16 lengths in early summer.
ALWAYSTHINKINOFYOU (Last 3 Beyers: 76-84-70)
◗ She just missed a third straight win when beaten in the slop at Laurel on Oct. 11.
LAGUNA GIRL (Last 3 Beyers: 58-79-83)
◗ Trainer Joe Orseno is 12 for 50, with a $3.51 return on investment, since the start of 2013 with horses making a turf-to-dirt switch.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT:No. 5 Laguna Girl. Trainer Joe Orseno is 15-5-2-2 with a $3.40 ROI over the past five years going turf to dirt in sprints following a layoff of 45 days or more. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan