OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Chad Brown said he is “not overly concerned” with the lugging in Ballerina d’Oro did winning Saturday’s Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct, but said he would “tinker with her a little bit” in the month leading up to the May 2 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.  “She’s had too many perfect days in a row training for me to be worrying too much about one incident in a short field,” Brown said Sunday morning.  At the head of the lane in the Gazelle, it looked as though Ballerina d’Oro was poised to motor on by the leaders. But, under Dylan Davis, she lugged in in front of Deloraine and then nearly brushed with Early On before Davis was able to straighten her out. Ballerina d’Oro was able to keep her mind on business long enough to outfinish Early On by a nose.  “She looked at the top of the lane like she was going to switch leads and just pull away, which would have given me a lot less work to do going into the Oaks,” Brown said. “She looks sound this morning; just monitor how she trains and go from there. Maybe she’ll be less likely to do it in a bigger field, I don’t know. She was kind of all by herself in the middle of the track. I don’t know if that had something to do with it. She’s been a horse that looks around a lot.”  Ballerina d’Oro has worn blinkers in her three dirt starts - a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Demoiselle last December, a third in Davona Dale, a race that became Plan B when she missed the Rachel Alexandra due to a fever, and the Gazelle.  :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Ballerina d’Oro earned a modest 79 Beyer Speed Figure for the Gazelle win.  Brown said Ballerina d’Oro would remain in New York until around April 21, when he’ll assemble his horses at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby week races. Ballerina d’Oro will likely have one work in New York and her last one at Churchill.  Early On, the Gazelle runner-up, is also headed to the Kentucky Oaks. Trainer Saffie Joseph said he was happy enough with the performance because Early On showed “more tactical speed. In her previous races she was so slow and it put her out of position. Our initial reaction is that we’re going to probably go there.”  Joseph said he was inclined to ship Early On from New York to Kentucky as opposed to shipping her back to Joseph’s South Florida stable.  Crazy Mason: True North or Met Mile  Crazy Mason, the last-to-first winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 Carter Stakes, will be considered next for either the Grade 3, $400,000 True North or the Grade 1, $1 million Metropolitan Handicap, trainer Gregg Sacco said Sunday.  The True North, at 6 1/2 furlongs and the Met Mile are both on the June 7 Belmont Stakes Day program at Saratoga.  The Carter marked the third straight time Crazy Mason rallied from last with a furious stretch kick to win. On Saturday, he ran down favored Quint’s Brew to win by a neck with the another 2 1/2 lengths back to third-place finisher Dilger.  Crazy Mason’s three wins this year have come in races run at six, 6 1/2, and seven furlongs. Sacco does wonder how effective his kick would be beyond those distances.  “Probably up to the seven-eighths it’s going to be very powerful,” Sacco said. “Beyond that, you kind of worry about pace factors and will he have that same kind of kick with that extra furlong. I would think anywhere between three-quarters to seven-eighths that kick will be there.”  Sacco was impressed with Crazy Mason’s victory because he thought he ran against the grain of the main track, which did produce six front-running winners, and he ran down a quality horse in Quint’s Brew, who was coming off back-to-back stakes wins in Maryland.  “Quint’s Brew sat a great trip and kicked on and we had to really run him down,” Sacco said. “I don’t think he was stopping, he was reaching for the wire, it’s just that Mason found another gear. That was pretty impressive.”  Both Crazy Mason and Quint’s Brew earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.  Ned Allard, the trainer of Quint’s Brew, said his horse “ran a winning race and got beat.”  Allard said Quint’s Brew was a little quiet Sunday morning, but otherwise he’s in good shape at Delaware Park.  Allard said he was not ready to commit to a particular race, but said the Grade 3, $150,000 Maryland Sprint going six furlongs on May 16 would be considered.  “He’s certainly not going to come back in less a month,” Allard said.  Rodriguez in no rush with Phileas Fogg  Phileas Fogg showed a new dimension coming from eight lengths back to win the $150,000 Excelsior Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths. Trainer Gustavo Rodriguez was not surprised.  “This horse is like a car, you can do whatever you want with him, you take a hold, it’s okay, you ask him he goes,” Rodriguez said. “He’s so nice.”  Rodriguez said while owner Steve Shapiro wanted Kendrick Carmouche to put Phileas Fogg on the lead, Carmouche said he was going to use his horse early to force jockey Romero Maragh on Mama’s Gold to either go or take back. Maragh opted to go and set splits of 22.88 seconds and 46.65 while Carmouche sat second, about eight lengths back. Carmouche made his move at the three-eighths pole, and the race was basically over. “He gave the horse a beautiful, beautiful ride,”  Rodriguez said. “The way he told us that’s exactly what happened.”  Phileas Fogg earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure for the win, one point lower than for his eight-length win in the Queens County Stakes in December.  While the Grade 2, $400,000 Suburban Stakes at Saratoga on July 4 had been mentioned as a possible next race, Rodriguez said he was not willing to commit to a next start.  “Right now we’re just going to enjoy the win and then we’ll see where we’re going to go,” Rodriguez said.  Rodriguez won a four-way shake last July at Saratoga to claim Phileas Fogg for $62,500. With four wins and a neck loss in an allowance from five starts, Phileas Fogg has earned $301,250 for his new connections.  Irish Maxima team ponder big swing  Irish Maxima, winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Distaff Stakes, will be considered for the Grade 1, $1 million Derby City Distaff on the Kentucky Derby undercard.  “We’re going to get together and talk about it this week,” trainer John Servis said Sunday. “I wanted to see how she looked coming out of the race. Everything looks great. We’ll sit down and chat about it.”  Irish Maxima was a handy, 1 1/4-length front-running winner of the Distaff, her seventh win from eight starts since returning from a nine-month layoff last August. Servis said he may have gotten too aggressive with Irish Maxima after she won her first two starts at 2. But after losses in the Grade 1 Frizette at Aqueduct and then a listed stakes at Churchill Downs, Servis recommended the filly be given time off.  Servis said the owners, Irish Three Racing, were on board with that move. That group was quite boisterous in the Aqueduct winner’s circle on Saturday.  Servis said if the decision is made to skip the Derby City Distaff, then the Grade 3, $175,000 Vagrancy at Aqueduct on May 4 would be Irish Maxima’s next start.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.