Arrest Me Red gets chance to make up for missed Breeders' Cup start
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Wesley Ward won the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint with Golden Pal, the trainer still walked away from the race feeling a tinge unfulfilled. The day before the race he had to scratch contender Arrest Me Red from the five-furlong turf dash due to a foot issue.
“He definitely would have been third,” Ward said.
Arrest Me Red was scratched because he had a nail penetrate his hoof, in racing parlance a “hot nail.” He has recovered sufficiently enough where Ward has entered him in Saturday’s $150,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship, the fourth stakes and final race on a 10-race card that begins at 11:50 a.m.
Shortly after Breeders’ Cup weekend, Arrest Me Red returned to Keeneland where he has trained many days while being watched by Dr. Stuart Brown, Keeneland’s equine medical director, Ward said.
“I’ve learned he’s the soundest horse I’ve got in training,” Ward said. “He doesn’t have a pimple on him.”
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Arrest Me Red is 4 for 4 in turf sprints, a record that includes victories at all three New York Racing Association tracks. Last fall, he won the Atlantic Beach Stakes at Aqueduct. In two starts this year, he won the Mahony Stakes at Saratoga and the Belmont Turf Championship on Oct. 2.
Arrest Me Red has proven effective from both on and off the pace. In a field that will be limited to 10 due the placement of the rail at 24 feet on the outer turf course, there appears to be just one other speed horse, Grateful Bred, a Mid-Atlantic shipper.
With several New York riders out of town on Saturday, Paco Lopez will become the sixth jockey to ride Arrest Me Red in what is his seventh career start.
“He’s pretty smart, we’ll just play the break,” Ward said.
Beyond Arrest Me Red, the race becomes extremely competitive.
Value Proposition is in terrific form for Chad Brown, but is cutting back another furlong after stakes wins going a two-turn mile and, most recently, seven furlongs. Pulsate has been ultra-consistent in turf sprints, winning the Lucky Coin at Saratoga and finishing second in the Belmont Turf Sprint and Oyster Bay, both at Belmont.
Turned Aside won this race last year at 5-1 when trained by Linda Rice. Now with Mark Casse, Turned Aside is 0 for 4 this year but is coming off a solid second in the Nearctic Stakes at Woodbine last out.
Big Package is coming off a solid allowance win on Nov. 7 at Belmont and is a horse trainer David Donk said, “who needs pace. If he gets pace, he’s got a big kick.”
Chewing Gum is another who is “pace dependent,” trainer Bill Mott said.
Trainer Christophe Clement has Maxwell Esquire in the body of the race but beware of Voodoo Zip for Clement should he draw in from the also-eligible list.
Sy Dog steps up in Central Park
If talent trumps experience, then Sy Dog could be the one to beat in Saturday’s $100,000 Central Park Stakes for 2-year-olds scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the outer turf course.
Sy Dog, a son of Slumber trained by Graham Motion for Sol Kumin’s Head of Plains Partners, rallied from 10 lengths back to win a seven-furlong maiden race in his lone start Oct. 24 at Belmont Park. He is bred to handle the stretch out – a full sibling won at nine furlongs earlier this year – and he gets the services of Luis Saez.
Sy Dog will take on General Ken and Geno, the one-two finishers from the Awad Stakes on Nov. 5 at Belmont. General Ken, making his first start for Brown off a private purchase, got up in the final strides under Dylan Davis, who has the call again Saturday.
Geno, coming off a maiden win sprinting against New York-breds, made the pace when stretched out for the first time in the Awad, just falling a nose short at 17-1 under Jorge Vargas Jr. Donk, the trainer of Geno, was somewhat surprised, but not upset, that Geno was on the lead that day.
“I really thought that I would be just slightly off the pace,” Donk said. “I think Vargas did a really good job – don’t give up something that they give you. He was on the lead, he was doing it real easy. I think it’s a good sign. I don’t think he’s a horse that has to have the lead, but he showed us that he can be tactical.”
Maseta, coming off a maiden win versus New York-breds, Trust Daddy, Grand Sonata, Ohtwoohthreefive, and Wish Me Home complete the Central Park field.