Arctic Arrogance goes next in Wood Memorial or Bay Shore

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Arctic Arrogance, forced to miss last Saturday’s Grade 3 Gotham Stakes after missing training time due to illness, returned to the work tab Wednesday, breezing five furlongs in 1:02 over Belmont Park’s training track.

It was his first breeze since he finished second in the Withers Stakes on Feb. 11, his third consecutive runner-up finish in a stakes race that offered qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby.

Trainer Linda Rice said she is pointing Arctic Arrogance to a race at Aqueduct on April 8, but has not yet decided if it will the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at 1 1/8 miles or the Grade 3, $200,000 Bay Shore Stakes at seven furlongs.

“Seven furlongs might be a little too short, a mile and an eighth might a little too far,” she said. “We’ll see how they come up.”

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After missing some training time due to a virus that went through her barn, Arctic Arrogance has “been sharp as a tack in this chilly weather,” Rice said.

Rice reported that Betsy Blue, her multiple stakes-winning New York-bred mare, has been given some time off at Patty Hogan’s farm in Cream Ridge, N.J. That will cause her to miss the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct on April 7.

“She ran a little subpar in her last race and she had some soreness in a hind leg,” Rice said. “I figured she had done a lot, she deserved a little breather.”

From 22 starts, Betsy Blue has 10 wins and 8 seconds. She won the Garland of Roses and Interborough stakes before finishing second in the Broadway on Feb. 12.

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