Baby Yoda makes quick return in Kelso Stakes
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Baby Yoda has won half of his 14 career starts. His record looks even better when he’s not facing the likes of Flightline, Jackie’s Warrior, or Cody’s Wish.
None of those three appear in the entries for Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Kelso at Aqueduct, so Baby Yoda looks well positioned to win the first stakes of his career in this one-mile event. The Kelso, previously run in September as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, has now been moved back one month to serve as a stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct Dec. 3.
Bill Mott, trainer of Baby Yoda, already has Art Collector pointing to the Cigar Mile, but hey, the more the merrier.
Baby Yoda, second to Flightline in the Grade 1 Malibu last December, had to run beyond seven furlongs when he captured a third-level allowance race by 10 3/4 lengths going the one-turn mile here Oct. 7. He earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort, his second-highest number behind the 114 he earned when he beat Olympiad in an allowance at Saratoga in September 2021.
“He ran pretty darn good the other day going a mile,” Mott said. “It’s coming back a little quick, that’s the only thing I worry about with him.”
Yes, Baby Yoda is running back 22 days after that allowance win. But several in this field also are coming back on short rest, including Double Crown, who wheels back one week after running fourth in the Maryland Million Classic. Double Crown is cross-entered in a Delaware Park allowance but will scratch from that race to run in the Kelso, according to trainer Lynn Cash.
Morello and Empty Tomb, recent allowance winners, also are running back in 21 and 22 days, respectively. Morello, the lone 3-year-old in this six-horse field, won the Grade 3 Gotham going a one-turn mile here in March.
Morello came off a four-month layoff to win a six-furlong allowance on Oct. 8 at Laurel.
“He didn’t break well but he made up for it and he came back in good shape,” said Toby Sheets, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. “It’s a little close, but he’s doing very well so I don’t think that’ll bother us.”
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Dylan Davis rides Morello from post 3.
Trainer Robert Falcone Jr. expressed some concern about running Empty Tomb back 22 days after he won a 1 1/16-mile allowance at Delaware off a seven-month layoff. Empty Tomb is cutting back to a one-turn mile, and Falcone said he expects jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. to put Empty Tomb on the lead from post 2.
“That’s the only way he can win,” Falcone said.
Trainer Gary Capuano ships Shackqueenking in from Delaware, where he has won three consecutive starts including the restricted Governor’s Day Handicap on Oct. 1.
The Kelso goes as race 5 on a 10-race card that begins at 12:35 p.m. and includes the Grade 3 Bold Ruler at six furlongs, the listed Awad for 2-year-olds on turf, and the listed Pumpkin Pie for female sprinters on dirt.
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