Bar of Gold targets Go for Wand

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Bar of Gold, the 18-length winner of the Empire Distaff Handicap on the New York Showcase Day program at Belmont Park, is targeting next Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Go for Wand Handicap at Aqueduct.

Bar of Gold worked a slow half-mile in 52 seconds over the Belmont Park training track Friday, but trainer John Kimmel noted that she had worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.50 on Nov. 17.

“She had a very good work last week,” Kimmel said. “She’s super fit. My instructions were to not go very fast off the pole because she can go very fast. She probably went out the next quarter faster than she went her first quarter.”

Bar of Gold is 5 for 5 against New York-breds, with all five wins coming over wet tracks. She is 0 for 10 against open company.

“There’s no doubt she certainly handles an off track well,” Kimmel said. “I think she can handle a fast track as well, too.”

The Go for Wand field on Friday was in flux. Stakes coordinator Andrew Byrnes said other possible entrants include Burn Control, Camille Claudel, Cayman Croc, and Wonder Gal.

Mallano, longtime valet, retiring

John Mallano, a former jockey who has worked as a valet in the jockeys’ room at the New York Racing Association for 37 years, will retire following Sunday’s card.

“I thought about it for a couple of years; it’s now time,” Mallano said Thursday.

Mallano has worked for Richard Migliore, Eddie Maple, Ramon Dominguez, Robbie Davis, Javier Castellano, Craig Perret, and Shaun Bridgmohan.

Mallano was a jockey in the early 1970s, winning 222 races, according to a review of the American Racing Manual. He won 102 races as an apprentice in New York in 1972. He won 83 races while riding primarily for John Tammaro III in Maryland in 1975.