Carter a proving ground for The Big Beast
The Grade 1 Carter Handicap, the final leg of a $500,000-guaranteed pick four pool at Aqueduct on Saturday, is carded as race 11 and immediately follows the Wood Memorial.
The seven-furlong Carter is a complicated race that includes last year’s winner, the always-reliable front-runner Dads Caps; a sharp California shipper, Wild Dude; and two comebackers, Palace and Clearly Now, who were each near the top of the East Coast sprint division last summer.
Oh, and then there’s “The Beast” – The Big Beast, who after losing his first two starts has won four straight. It’s obvious that he possesses tremendous potential, but because he is so lightly raced, it is still unclear how he fits at this level of competition against more seasoned rivals.
At more than 17 hands and 1,200 pounds, The Big Beast lives up to his name. He scored his signature victory on Travers Day last summer in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop, overpowering the front-running Fast Anna to win the seven-furlong race by a neck.
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“There was a lone speed in the race, but he came and collected him in the stretch,” said trainer Tony Dutrow.
The Big Beast used his long stride to make up at least 1 1/2 lengths during a 12.58-second final furlong.
The King’s Bishop was the final race of The Big Beast’s 3-year-old season. He had a chip removed from an ankle soon afterward and has started only once since, winning a six-furlong allowance at Oaklawn Park on March 1.
He has had two five-furlong bullet works since, one at Oaklawn on March 17 and the other last Saturday over the Aqueduct inner track.
“He’s excellent right now,” Dutrow said. “I feel very good about where we are with him.”
We will learn a lot more about The Big Beast on Saturday when he faces the toughest challenge of his career.
Key contenders
The Big Beast (Last 3 Beyers: 97-96-102)
◗ Expect him to stalk and rally, just as he did in the King’s Bishop.
◗ He is stabled at Aqueduct and has trained over the main track this week.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 The Big Beast. Trainer Tony Dutrow is 41-21-8-4 with a $2.39 ROI over the past five years in dirt sprints with last-out winners in the second start following a layoff. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Palace (Last 3 Beyers: 97-101-101)
◗ He won two Grade 1 races at Saratoga last summer, the Vanderbilt and the Forego.
◗ He was being pointed to the Fall Highweight after finishing sixth of 14 in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint when he came down with a fever. Trainer Linda Rice gave him the winter off and has worked him five times since March 1.
◗ He won his 2014 debut in the six-furlong True North following a 15-week layoff.
◗ He will carry the high weight of 121 in this handicap, spotting the opposition two to 12 pounds.
Wild Dude (Last 3 Beyers: 96-98-101)
◗ Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, he showed improved speed to track the pace in the Grade 2 San Carlos at Santa Anita on March 7, then held off the comebacking Kobe’s Back rather easily through a 12.12-second final eighth.
◗ He has never raced on a wet track. There was a 70 percent chance of showers in New York on Friday afternoon and Friday night.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 7 Wild Dude. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is 7-3-2-1 with a $3.25 ROI over the past five years in Grade 1 stakes on dirt on the NYRA circuit. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Dads Caps (Last 3 Beyers: 100-103-101)
◗ He has faced Salutos Amigos in his last three races, finishing clearly second-best in the last two and third three starts back. Are those efforts good enough to win this? Maybe.
◗ He won the Carter last year, his lone victory in nine starts on the season.
Clearly Now (Last 3 Beyers: 74-113-101)
◗ He has not raced since finishing eighth in the Forego at Saratoga. He was the 4-5 favorite in that race over eventual winner Palace.
◗ He set the seven-furlong track record at Belmont Park in his second-to-last start of 2014, the $400,000 Belmont Sprint Championship, defeating runner-up Palace by 6 1/4 lengths.