Drew’s Gold likely to start in Bay Shore on Wood card
The connections of Drew’s Gold will resist any temptation to try and stretch their unbeaten 3-year-old out in distance for the time being and will point him toward the Grade 3, $200,000 Bay Shore Stakes going seven furlongs at Aqueduct on April 8.
The Bay Shore is run on the same card as the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial run at 1 1/8 miles. There is also the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham going a one-turn mile on March 4.
“I’d rather do the right thing with him and run him in the Bay Shore, that’s where he needs to run,” said James Chapman, the trainer and part owner of Drew’s Gold. “As honest as he is and as much time as we’ve taken, the Bay Shore is the right spot.”
Drew’s Gold won his debut in May at Churchill Downs, but was later diagnosed with an injury to the tibia bone in a hind leg. He returned to the races on Jan. 28, winning a first-level allowance at Laurel Park before wheeling back in two weeks to win the Jimmy Winkfield by 4 1/4 lengths. He earned the same 83 Beyer Speed Figure in the Winkfield that he received for winning the allowance race.
The most noticeable difference between the Winkfield and his previous two starts was how much better Drew’s Gold got away from the gate. Chapman credited the gate crew for their work with Drew’s Gold.
“The gate crew is so good up here in New York,” Chapman said. “He spooks from the doors. Instead of standing him and backing him out they stood him and let him walk out the front to see that the doors wouldn’t hit him.”
Chapman said Drew’s Gold had some mucous in a nostril before the Winkfield and scoped with some mucous afterward, but was otherwise in good order.
Meanwhile, Chapman said he plans to shorten Prove Right up in distance after his fifth-place finish in Saturday’s Withers. Chapman didn’t rule out running Prove Right in the Bay Shore or, if the field comes up light numbers-wise, trying the Gotham on March 4.
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