Don't Be So Salty eyes Turfway

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Don’t Be So Salty, who won the Display Stakes at Woodbine on Nov. 29, is among trainer Gary Contessa’s 16-horse string at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida for the winter. But Don’t Be So Salty will be targeting Turfway Park’s series for 3-year-olds, the trainer said, because of the gelding’s 2-for-2 record over synthetic surfaces.

Don’t Be So Salty will be aimed at the $75,000 WEBN Stakes going 6 1/2 furlongs on Jan. 30, the $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 27, and the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on April 2.

“If he was to win the Spiral, then we’d look to run him on the dirt like everybody else does,” said Contessa, referring to the Kentucky Derby, for which the Spiral offers qualifying points.

Don’t Be So Salty, a Florida-bred gelding by Tiz Wonderful, won an allowance race at Presque Isle Downs by 9 3/4 lengths in September before running fourth in the Bourbon Stakes on turf in October. Following a disappointing seventh in the Awad Stakes at Belmont, Don’t Be So Salty shipped to Woodbine to win the Display.