Becker's Galaxy brings winning knack to Friday optional claimer

Although the number of entrants for Friday’s racing at Aqueduct is rather short, 58 horses among eight races, there is above-average quality with three allowances on the program.

A $72,000 third-level contest with an $80,000 claiming condition is carded as the second race and drew five horses. A $67,000 entry-level allowance is the third race and drew six horses.

Horseplayers in search of bigger fields will find the third allowance of the day, the seventh race, as the most appealing of the allowance trio despite being restricted to New York-breds. For second-level allowance runners or those racing for a $40,000 claiming price, it drew nine horses, though a same-owner entry left the field with eight betting interests.

The 5-2 morning-line favorite in the one-mile race is Becker’s Galaxy, who was claimed for $25,000 by trainer David Jacobson from an 8 1/2-length win in an optional-claiming race Jan. 18. Fleet Irish is 3-1, and Clutch Cargo is 7-2.

An 8-year-old Greeley’s Galaxy gelding, Becker’s Galaxy is one of four starting for the tag, having long since cleared this allowance condition. He has won 11 times over a 52-race career. He won the last time he raced at this level, which came in August at Saratoga.

That win, along with his most-recent victory, came on the lead in a slow-paced 1 1/8-mile race around two turns. If he is to make the lead in Friday’s seventh, he will likely have to run much faster. Rivals Global Positioning and Mighty Zealous exit sprints. Global Positioning appears a likely candidate to get hustled away from the gate as the inside speed of the race.

Hot-riding Dylan Davis, who went 9 for 16 on Sunday and Monday at Aqueduct, may opt to have Becker’s Galaxy press the pace outside of Global Positioning.

Entered on short rest is class-dropping Clutch Cargo, who finished fifth of six in the Haynesfield Stakes last Saturday at Aqueduct over a muddy strip. He is reunited with jockey Joe Rocco Jr., who rode him to a neck victory in the slop two starts ago against easier allowance opposition Dec. 23. He may catch a wet track for the third straight race, with weather forecasters predicting rain Thursday and Friday in New York.