Dutrow has four-pack to go on makeup day

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Richard Dutrow has had little trouble transferring his inner-track success to Aqueduct's main oval. His winning ways figure to continue on Monday when Dutrow sends out Mr. Whitestone in Monday's featured third-level allowance race.

Aqueduct added Monday, normally a dark day, to the schedule after it canceled Friday's card because of inclement weather. Dutrow has four runners on the card, including It's So Simple, who drops in for a $50,000 claiming price four days after beating graded stakes winners Saarland and Snake Mountain.

Mr. Whitestone seeks his fourth consecutive win in Monday's one-mile feature, which drew a field of eight.

Mr. Whitestone's streak began on the main track on Nov. 19, when he won a $35,000 claiming race at six furlongs by 6 3/4 lengths. Greg Martin claimed Mr. Whitestone out of that race, ran him back one month later over the inner track at 1 1/16 miles where he won a $50,000 claiming event.

Dutrow claimed him for $50,000, and after a brief freshening, ran Mr. Whitestone in a second-level allowance race that he won by 4 3/4 lengths. That race was at six furlongs, and he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 103 for the effort.

"He ran huge that day," said Dutrow, who began the main-track meet 7 for 15 after winning the inner track title with 47 victories. "I'm happy with him. He's a sound horse, he looks like he'll go any distance. This horse is training great. If things go how they've been going, he's going to be tough.''

Oration, a 7-year-old gelding who has made only 13 starts, brings a two-race winning streak into this heat. Tarek makes his second start off a layoff for Jason Servis, and could be the main speed of this field.

Trial Prep, a restricted stakes winner over this track at 3, could work out a decent trip from the outside post.

Abscess sidelines 'Souvenirs'

Among My Souvenirs, who would have been the first or second choice in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Cicada Stakes, was forced to scratch from the race because of a foot injury.

"She has some infection in her foot. We've located the abscess," trainer Tony Dutrow said from Maryland. "She wasn't perfect [Friday], she was really really bad [Saturday], which leads me to believe the abscess is about to pop."

Dutrow said the injury was to the filly's right front foot. Among My Souvenirs had won her first three starts, including the Dearly Precious Stakes at Aqueduct and the Marshua Stakes at Laurel Park.

Dutrow said he liked the series of races New York had for 3-year-old fillies, which continues with the Grade 3 Comely here on April 9 and the $200,000 Nassau County at Belmont on May 8.

"I was really looking forward to it," Dutrow said of the Cicada. "This really screws me up. Thank God the problem wasn't worse."

Two possible spots for Well Fancied

Well Fancied, winner of the General George and Toboggan handicaps, could make his next start in either the Kings Point Handicap on May 2, or the Westchester at Belmont Park three days later, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. said.

The $75,000 Kings Point is restricted to New York-breds and is run at Aqueduct at nine furlongs. The Westchester, a Grade 3, $100,000 event, is run at one mile at Belmont.

"If things go well, he'll run in one of those two races," Dutrow said. "If the Westchester comes up like the other races I've been running in, then we might do that."

Odds pique stewards' interest

The amount of money wagered on Augusttown Maxi in Saturday's first race prompted the stewards to contact that horse's owner and trainer, Edmund Pringle.

In his three previous starts, Augusttown Maxi had beaten a combined total of two horses and had never been shorter odds than 52-1. In Saturday's opener, a maiden special weight race at seven furlongs, Augusttown Maxi, 30-1 on the morning line, opened at 2-1. He eventually drifted up to 6-1.

Augusttown Maxi was racing on Lasix for the first time and did show a solid half-mile workout, presumably on Lasix, before this race. Despite drifting out in the stretch, Augusttown Maxi finished second.

Dave Hicks, the New York Racing Association steward, called Pringle, who was attending a family wedding in Florida. Hicks seemed satisfied with Pringle's explanation that Lasix helped Augusttown Maxi, but Hicks still plans to meet with Pringle when he returns to New York.