Corporate Power tries winners in field of five

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Not all 3-year-olds were ready, or good enough, to get on the Kentucky Derby trail. Five of those 3-year-olds will look to move forward in their campaigns Friday in a first-level allowance race at Aqueduct. The 1 1/8-mile race is positioned four weeks out from the Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan on May 11 at Aqueduct.

Corporate Power, coming off a narrow victory in a nine-furlong race on Feb. 24 at Gulfstream Park, takes on winners for the first time in this spot. A son of Curlin who brought $925,000 as a yearling, Corporate Power finished fourth behind Speak Easy in a fast-figured, one-mile maiden race on Jan. 27 at Gulfstream.

Sent off the 6-5 favorite in his next start, Corporate Power gutted out a neck victory over the pacesetting Batten Down, seemingly emboldened when a horse – Sturdy – came to his outside in the stretch.

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“No doubt. When that horse came up to him, he made him kind of go on and finish,” said Shug McGaughey, who trains Corporate Power for Donald Adam’s Courtlandt Farms. “He’s a horse that’s on the improve, a mile and an eighth at Aqueduct should hit him right in the head. It’s just another place to keep him going.”

Javier Castellano rides Corporate Power from the rail.

Capital Idea and Lightline finished fifth and seventh, respectively, in the Grade 3 Gotham, a one-turn mile stakes here March 2. Capital Idea, a son of Classic Empire, won his maiden going a one-turn mile by 8 1/4 lengths in the slop on Jan. 28 at Aqueduct.

Trainer Christophe Clement is adding blinkers to Capital Idea, saying the horse wasn’t as sharp toward the end of his two most recent workouts as he would have liked to have seen.

Trevor McCarthy rides from post 4.

Lightline, a son of City of Light trained by Brad Cox, won his debut at first asking by 13 3/4 lengths at Horseshoe Indianapolis last September. After two runner-up finishes in allowance company at Keeneland and Oaklawn, Lightline finished third as the favorite in the Grade 3 Withers going 1 1/8 miles on Feb. 3 before a flat seventh-place finish in the muddy Gotham.

“His last run on a muddy track, one turn was not his thing,” Cox said. “He’s trained well. I like the mile and an eighth for him. Hopefully, we can get him back on track. He needs to get in the win column. He hasn’t won since he broke his maiden first time out.”

Manny Franco rides Lightline from post 2.

It took four tries for Unique Insight to win his first race. Unique Insight, a son of Gun Runner trained by Chad Brown, raced on Lasix for the first time in that spot and was a handy 4 1/2-length winner.

Eric Cancel rides Unique Insight from post 3.

Brown Don’t Stop, trained by Orlando Noda, did win his only race from six starts going 1 1/8 miles here last December. Following three defeats, he runs as a first-time gelding Friday and is in for the optional $80,000 claiming price.

This allowance goes as race 2 on an eight-race Friday card that begins at 1:20 p.m. Eastern.

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