Dr Ardito collars stablemate to win Alex M. Robb

OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- The late foot of Dr Ardito proved slightly better than the early speed of Aggregation as the former ran down the latter by a half-length to win Friday’s $96,000 Alex M. Robb Stakes over a sealed, muddy track at Aqueduct.

It was the eighth victory from 14 starts -- and third stakes win -- for Dr Ardito, a 5-year-old gelded son of Liam’s Map owned by Michael Dubb and Michael Caruso. Dr Ardito is trained by Chad Brown as was the runner-up Aggregation, who is owned by Seth Klarman.

Aggregation was coming off two allowance wins and looked Friday like the primary speed on paper, which is why he was sent off the 6-5 favorite over Dr Ardito, who went off at 8-5.

Aggregation, breaking from the rail under Kendrick Carmouche, was put on the lead, but had some pressure from Barese through a quarter in 22.72 seconds and a half-mile in 45.34.

Manny Franco had Dr Ardito about six wide and in last down the backstretch before saving ground around the far turn.

While Aggregation put away Barese -- he had to run six furlongs in 1:09.99 to do so -- he couldn’t fend off an outside-rallying Dr Ardito, who passed him late. Aggregation finished 4 1/2 lengths clear of Barese. General Banker and Curlin’s Wisdom completed the order of finish.

Dr Ardito covered the mile in 1:36.18 and returned $5.40 as the second choice.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets.

Franco said he thought with Barese in the field, he wasn’t worried that Aggregation would have things his own way up front.

“That’s what I expected, a good pace in front of me and I just come with my run late,” Franco said.

Carmouche said the early fractions are what likely cost his horse the win.

“If I could have gotten away with 23, 46, that would make the difference, but you’re not going to win going [22.72, 45.34, 1:09.99], but he ran good,” Carmouche said. “I think the better horse beat me today.”

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.