Carter ambitious spot for Palace’s comeback

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Linda Rice could have chosen a $70,000 New York-bred allowance race here on Thursday in which to bring back her multiple Grade 1-winning sprinter Palace. Instead, she chose Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Carter Handicap, spicing up what already was shaping up as a pretty interesting race.

In what will be his first start since running sixth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Palace will meet Grade 1 winners The Big Beast and Dads Caps as well as graded stakes winners Wild Dude and Clearly Now in the seven-furlong Carter. Longshots Dream Saturday, Green Gratto, and Street Shark fill out the field for the Carter, which goes as the 11th of 12 races on Saturday’s card.

Palace, a son of City Zip, has won 10 of 19 starts and $1,319,550 since Rice claimed him on Oct. 6, 2012. The last 17 of those races have been for owner Antonino Miuccio.

Last year, Palace won the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt and Forego at Saratoga. Earlier in the year, coming off a 109-day layoff, Palace won the Grade 2 True North, a six-furlong race on Belmont Stakes Day. This layoff is 154 days.

“He came to hand maybe a little quicker than I thought he would,” Rice said. “I had given him time off after the Breeders’ Cup; he had gotten sick on me. We brought him back, I felt if the horse is training very well, maybe we’ll go ahead and see if we can make the Carter. Tough race, but it’s a big purse. Certainly, when he’s right, he’s that kind of horse.”

Palace is the 121-pound starting highweight. He will be spotting two pounds to Dads Caps, last year’s Carter winner, and Wild Dude, the Grade 2 San Carlos winner. The Big Beast, last year’s King’s Bishop winner, carries 118, while Clearly Now, who beat Palace in the Belmont Sprint Championship, carries 117.