Duarte ends break, sends Don't Listen in sprint

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Winter recess is over for trainer Jorge Duarte Jr., who sends out just his second starter of 2024 on Thursday when he runs Don’t Listen in a $50,000 starter allowance/optional-claiming sprint for 3-year-old fillies on Aqueduct’s eight race-card.

Duarte hasn’t run a horse since Had to Have Him won a low-level claiming race at Laurel Park on Jan. 12. Based at a training center in Colts Neck, N.J., Duarte had the luxury of turning out 24 horses for the winter, including his multiple stakes-winning turf sprinter Nothing Better.

Don’t Listen was Duarte’s last winner of 2023 in New York, taking a maiden $75,000 claiming race by 1 1/2 lengths at Aqueduct last Nov. 24. Dorothy’s Dream, second in that race, did come back to win a maiden special weight race on Jan. 14.

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

Don’t Listen earned a 70 Beyer Speed Figure for her victory, significantly higher than her two previous tries at Monmouth Park and Laurel. Duarte said in those two races, Don’t Listen got involved in protracted speed duels.

“In New York, she moved forward,” Duarte said. “Some of the way the races in New York set up, they don’t all break and send. She’s probably going to want to go a little farther, but this is a starting point for the year.”

Don’t Listen breaks from post 2 in the six-furlong race, outside of the other speed, Grab the Glory, who was a seven-length winner for maiden $40,000 off a seven-month layoff in a race run over a sloppy track. Rain is forecast to return Thursday.

Jose Lezcano rides Grab the Glory from the rail for trainer Linda Rice.

Snappin Buttons overcame a poor break to win her debut, a maiden $40,000 claimer, by 6 1/2 lengths on March 1. After the tardy beginning, Snappin Buttons appeared to drag jockey Manny Franco to and ultimately past the leaders. Franco took Snappin Buttons in hand late.

“I was hoping she’d break a little better than that,” trainer Rob Atras said. “When one breaks bad, you’re concerned. Once you break like that you’re behind the eight ball but she recovered quickly. Manny didn’t panic and let her get her feet underneath her and she was pretty professional.”

Atras said the competition Snappin Buttons faced that day may have made the victory look better from a visual standpoint.

Franco, who rode Don’t Listen to victory last November, rides Snappin Buttons back on Thursday. Rafael Hernandez rides Don’t Listen.

Rudy Rodriguez entered two in this spot, including Six Pack Senorita, who he scratched out of last Saturday’s Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes. Six Pack Senorita won for maiden $40,000 claiming on Jan. 7.

Rodriguez also entered Status Seeker, a debut winner in maiden special weight company last June who is in for the optional $50,000 claiming price Thursday.

You’re Forever, a winner for maiden $50,000 claiming last out for trainer Robert Falcone Jr., and Controlled Temper, claimed at Fair Grounds for $30,000 by Joe Sharp in her most recent start, complete the field.

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