Cruise and Danze back in town for Ruthless

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Maryland-based trainer Jeremiah O’Dwyer hopes to kick off a big week in New York when he ships Cruise and Danze to town for Sunday’s $100,000 Ruthless Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Aqueduct.

O’Dwyer is also the trainer of Shotski, who last month won the Grade 2 Remsen here and who is pointing to next Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes as he continues his bid down the Triple Crown trail.

First things first. Cruise and Danze will take on eight rivals in the Ruthless, scheduled for seven furlongs. The race is essentially a first-level allowance, as all nine fillies have only a maiden win.

Cruise and Danze, a daughter of Danza, came within a nose of clearing her first-level allowance condition when she came up on the wrong end of a bob versus Compensate here in the slop on Dec. 14.

“I was very pleased with everything she did. She traveled good, relaxed good, and finished off her race well,” O’Dwyer said Friday from Maryland. “I’d be looking for something similar this time.”

Prior to the allowance, Cruise and Danze finished a well-beaten fifth in the Smart Halo Stakes. O’Dwyer felt his filly was compromised by showing too much early speed in that six-furlong race.

“I think she is a better filly if she gets a little bit of cover because she relaxes and will save a bit for the end,” O’Dwyer said. “In the Smart Halo, she was close to the pace, no cover, and probably gassed herself out a little.”

O’Dwyer said the seven furlongs of the Ruthless is a bit of an unknown for Cruise and Danze, but only one filly in the field, Panthera Onca, has even tried that distance, finishing second in a Dec. 1 allowance at Laurel. Panthera Onca makes her first start since a private purchase and is now in the barn of Brad Cox.

Rain was in the forecast Saturday, and should the track still be wet Sunday that shouldn’t bother Cruise and Danze. It could bother Bay Jewel, who cuts back from a mile allowance where she finished fourth, beaten nine lengths.

“Last time she ran, the track was muddy, she couldn’t handle it early and fell way back and finished fourth,” trainer John Toscano said. “Hopefully, this track will be fast Sunday and we’ll get a better line on her. I know she’s got talent. She’s better than the average horse.”

Love of My Heart won a maiden race in her third start, first on dirt, here on Dec. 22. Trainer Mark Casse said he thought highly enough of the filly to bring her to Saratoga last summer where she finished fourth in a turf sprint. She got sick and missed some time before running seventh in a 1 1/16-mile maiden turf race at Aqueduct in November.

Miss Marissa drops in class and turns back in distance after a last-place finish in the Grade 2, 1 1/8-mile Demoiselle last month. She finished second to British Idiom – who went on to win two Grade 1 stakes and, on Thursday, was crowned champion 2-year-old filly – in a six-furlong maiden race on Aug. 15 at Saratoga.

Well Brush Mytooth, The New Miami, Wicked Amber, and Wiggle and Jiggle complete the field.