The consistent and versatile Double Your Money looks to cap a terrific 4-year-old season when he makes a return trip to New York to run in a first-level allowance/optional $50,000 claiming race that serves as the feature on Sunday’s eight-race Aqueduct card. Sunday’s card is the final program before racing on this circuit takes an 11-day break with racing scheduled to resume Dec. 26. Double Your Money, trained by the Parx-based Benjamin Dunn, has a record of 5-6-1 from 12 starts this year after going winless in nine races in 2024. Previously trained by Felissa Dunn – Benjamin’s mother – Double Your Money has won his last two starts including a starter allowance at Aqueduct on Oct. 18 and one of the Claiming Crown races at Churchill Downs on Nov. 15. In his Aqueduct win, at 1 3/16 miles, Double Your Money chased a loose-on-the-lead Love Me Not before catching him in the final furlong and drawing off to win by 2 1/4 lengths. Curlin’s Malibu and Systemic Change, third and fourth, respectively, have both come back to win with Systemic Change going 2 for 2 since that race. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. In his Claiming Crown victory, at 1 1/8 miles, Double Your Money rallied from eighth in a field of 14 to win by 1 1/4 lengths. “I think he likes a target,” Dunn said. “Sometimes when he’s on the lead he has a tendency to wait on horses. When he’s got a target, he can stalk the pace. That’s his best running style and that’s the trip he should get on Sunday.” Melvis Gonzalez rides Double Your Money from post 6. Though this race drew a field of nine, there doesn’t appear to be a lot of speed in it, at least on paper. The speed could come from the Miguel Clement-trained Military Road, who has two wins and three seconds from his last five starts, the last three coming at Finger Lakes. His maiden came against just two rivals at in an off-the-turf race going 1 1/16 miles at Delaware Park in July. Whittington Park takes a steep drop in class as the 6-year-old New York-bred gelding will be offered for $50,000 after finishing third in the $250,000 Empire Classic behind Bank Frenzy and Doc Sullivan, the latter who came back to win a New York Stallion Series stakes in his next start. Whittington Park has posted two wins at 1 1/8 miles, including a second-level allowance/optional $75,000 claimer in the mud, a race when there was a fast early pace. An interesting member of this field is Valentinian, a 3-year-old by Into Mischief out of the dam Rachel’s Valentina – one of two foals produced by champion Rachel Alexandra. Valentinian, trained by Todd Pletcher, is running as a gelding for the first time. He is returning to dirt after finishing 11th in a turf allowance at Keeneland in October. Flavien Prat has taken the call. De Paz preparing for synthetic With New York racing headed to a future of synthetic racing next winter, trainer Horacio De Paz is getting a head start by maintaining a string this winter in Kentucky, where racing at Turfway Park takes place over a synthetic surface. De Paz is off to a strong start at Turfway with three winners from five starters including Punxsutawney Phil, who won a $50,000 claimer at Thursday. On Dec. 6, De Paz won a $12,500 claimer at Turfway Park with the New York-bred Spoils of War. It was the 5-year-old mare’s fourth consecutive win after taking a trio of starter allowance races at Laurel. Final Denile, another New York-bred, won a $30,000 claimer on Dec. 3. “We’re getting our practice in,” De Paz said. “You’re going to have to adjust, find out who likes it and who doesn’t.” Another reason De Paz has a Kentucky string is that he recently took over 16 horses previously trained by Ignacio Correas, who retired from training last month. Many of those horses were turf horses, including Nanabush, who was entered in Saturday’s $250,000 My Charmer Stakes. De Paz is hopeful Nanabush, a Group 1 winner in Argentina, would perform well enough to potentially earn a spot in the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Jan. 24 at Gulfstream. De Paz also wants to run the two-time New York-bred stakes winner Awesome Czech in the Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf. Awesome Czech, who won the Ticonderoga on Oct. 25 at Aqueduct, most recently finished second, beaten three-quarters of a length by Proctor Street, in the Cardinal Stakes at Churchill Downs. “She’s in such good form right now and her style suits that track,” De Paz said. De Paz’s New York string is also doing well. On Thursday, Time to Roll, a 2-year-old New York-bred by Not This Time, won a first-level statebred allowance by 6 3/4 lengths, earning a 79 Beyer Speed Figure. Last month, the New York-bred 2-year-old A Little at First won an open-company maiden race on turf by 2 1/4 lengths and could be heading to Turfway. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.