D' Funnybone tries to go one mile

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Thanks to three supplemental entries, Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct filled with six 3-year-olds.

D' Funnybone, a four-time Grade 2 winner at seven furlongs or shorter, will try a mile on dirt for the first time in the Withers. In his only start beyond seven furlongs, D' Funnybone finished last in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, but that race was around two turns and run over a synthetic surface. On dirt, D' Funnybone is 5 for 6 with wins in the Saratoga Special and Belmont Futurity at 2, and the Hutcheson and Swale at 3.

Following the Swale, owner Paul Pompa Jr. hinted that D' Funnybone could be considered a candidate for the Preakness. On Wednesday, Pompa said he would keep "all options open,'' though he seemed to be leaning toward keeping D' Funnybone racing around one turn.

"If he does it the right way we'll consider the Preakness, but he seems to excel at the one-turn races,'' Pompa said Wednesday. "It's hard to enough to get one to perform on such a consistent level as he is. I don't want to upset his head.''

D' Funnybone, trained by Richard Dutrow Jr., will carry high weight of 123 pounds under Edgar Prado from post 2.

Ibboyee, who finished second to D' Funnybone in the Swale after running third to him in the Hutcheson, will break from post 6 under John Velazquez. Ibboyee was recently voted champion New York-bred 2-year-old of 2009 based on a 4-for-5 campaign that included three statebred stakes victories.

Castaneda, a New York-bred who has won three straight races at six furlongs, is the horse to catch under Jorge Chavez.

The supplemental nominees are Most Happy Fella, who set the pace in the Wood Memorial before finishing last; Afleet Again, who finished last in the Gotham; and Star Spangled, who finished third in a first-level allowance race, his first race for owner Lawrence Roman. He, like D' Funnybone, is trained by Dutrow.