Condo Commando starts preparing for 2015 campaign

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Condo Commando, an Eclipse Award finalist for champion 2-year-old filly of 2014, has recently returned to trainer Rudy Rodriguez’s Aqueduct barn to begin preparations for her 3-year-old campaign.

Following her 11 1/2-length victory in the Grade 2 Demoiselle at Aqueduct in late November, Condo Commando was turned out at the Fair Hill Training Center in North East, Md.

She returned to Aqueduct on Jan. 6. On Wednesday, she had a strong open gallop, according to Rodriguez, who said he plans to breeze her next week. Rodriguez said he wants to see how Condo Commando trains before choosing her return race.

“Right now, we don’t have anything picked out for her,” Rodriguez said. “We just want to try to get her as comfortable as we can. We got a whole year ahead of us.”

The Busher on Feb. 21 and the Gazelle on April 4 are races at Aqueduct that Condo Commando could use to get to the Kentucky Oaks on May 1, if that is the goal.

Rodriguez said the Busher “might be a little quick, but you never know.”

“When we ran her in Saratoga first time, I didn’t think we had her ready to run,” he said.

Offered for a claiming price of $75,000, Condo Commando won her debut by 12 lengths Aug. 3 at Saratoga. She also won the Grade 1 Spinaway by 13 1/4 lengths.