Beautiful Shot not throwing away his shot in Gotham Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Keith Desormeaux already has two Kentucky Derby prospects in My Boy Jack and Ayacara. On Saturday, he’ll hit the road to find out if he has a third candidate in Beautiful Shot, who makes his 2018 debut in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.

Beautiful Shot, who won the Speakeasy Stakes going six furlongs at Santa Anita last October, was one of nine 3-year-olds entered Wednesday for the Gotham, which offers 85 qualifying points (50-20-10-5) to its top four finishers toward the May 5 Kentucky Derby. The top choices in the Gotham figure to be Grade 1 winners Firenze Fire and Free Drop Billy as well as Grade 2 winner Enticed.

Also entered were Nine Route, a New York-bred who has won three consecutive races; Dial Operator, a New Jersey-bred who is 2 for 2; Old Time Revival, beaten a neck in the Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel on Feb. 17; Whereshetoldmetogo, the winner of a starter allowance at Gulfstream last out; and Cove Blue, a maiden winner from five starts for trainer Dale Romans.

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Beautiful Shot, a son of Trappe Shot, is owned by Brad Kelly’s Calumet Farm, which has a Derby prospect in Bravazo, trained by D. Wayne Lukas. But Kelly as much as anyone subscribes to the more-the-merrier theory when it comes to the Derby, and would like to get Beautiful Shot there if possible.

The Gotham will be Beautiful Shot’s first start since Nov. 11, when he finished third behind Greyvitos and Mourinho in the Grade 3 Bob Hope, a seven-furlong race at Del Mar. Greyvitos came back to win the Springboard Mile at Remington Park, while Mourinho won the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn before running fourth in the Southwest.

Beautiful Shot was diagnosed with ulcers coming out of the Bob Hope, precipitating some time off, according to Desormeaux.

“Hopefully, that’s the reason we got beat – we think so,” Desormeaux said. “We worked on him for a solid month, got him healed of those, and he’s been training exceptionally well since.”

Desormeaux said the one-turn-mile configuration of the Gotham played a significant role in his decision to send the horse across the country for his first start in four months.

“I don’t want to bring the horse back off a four-month layoff in a two-turn race,” Desormeaux said.

Angel Arroyo is named to ride.

Beautiful Shot was expected to ship to New York on Wednesday. But a nor’easter in New York forced the flight to be canceled until Thursday. That plane is scheduled to stop in south Florida and pick up Enticed, Free Drop Billy, Cove Blue, and Whereshetoldmetogo. Enticed and Free Drop Billy were cross-entered in Saturday’s Tampa Bay Derby in case there are more flight delays.

The Gotham will go as the last of 10 races on a card that begins at 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

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