Californians remain in New York

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Two of the three horses who shipped here from Southern California for last weekend’s stakes action at Aqueduct remained in New York.

Much Better, who set the pace in the Grade 3 Gotham before fading to fourth, is at Belmont Park in trainer John Terranova’s barn. Trainer Bob Baffert said Much Better came out of the race in good order and would be nominated to, among other stakes, the Bay Shore, a Grade 3 stakes at seven furlongs, and the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at 1 1/8 miles, both on April 6 at Aqueduct.

“I just want to see how he works back and then we’ll decide what to do,” Baffert said.

Shivermetimbers, third in the Stymie Stakes, also stayed in New York and has been transferred to the barn of trainer Steve Asmussen, according to Terry Finley, president of West Point Thoroughbreds, which owns Shivermetimbers with Mark DeDomenico.

Finley said the decision to keep Shivermetimbers in New York had nothing to do with the recent spate of equine fatalities at Santa Anita.

“Not at all,” Finley said.

Shivermetimbers is eligible for a third-level allowance race, and those types of races haven’t been filling in California, according to Finley.

“A horse like that, he probably could be competitive in $100,000 stakes up and down the East Coast,” Finley said.

Finley did say that Kanthaka, who was second in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes at Santa Anita on Jan. 19, will likely be shipped here for the Grade 1 Carter on April 6. The Carter is run at seven furlongs, a distance at which Kanthaka has won three of four starts. Kanthaka is trained by Jerry Hollendorfer.