Dutrow's duo likes wet track

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - So far March has come in like a lion, and another wet track could impact Thursday's feature, a $56,000 classified allowance at 1 1/16 miles that drew seven older males, headed by entries from Richard Dutrow Jr. and Pat Reynolds.

Dutrow, whose 23 wins put him one behind defending-champ Gary Contessa for leading trainer, has entered My Request and Quiet One, and both are capable of triple-digit Beyers when it's wet. My Request ran a 101 in winning a high-priced claiming race in the slop at Saratoga last summer and earned a 100 on Jan. 2 when third in the mud.

Idle since winning a classified allowance on a fast track with a figure of 105 on Jan. 19, My Request is nominated to Saturday's $75,000-added Stymie Handicap.

Quiet One could be the more likely Dutrow starter if the track comes up wet. A consistent 7-year-old, Quiet One ran his fastest dirt figure on a wet Belmont track last Sept. 15. His lone start this winter was a photo-finish second on a muddy inner track two months ago.

The field could be whittled to a handful if the track is wet, because neither of the Reynolds-trained horses, Tom's Thunder or My Man Ryan, have shown much affinity for off going.

Tom's Thunder was claimed by Reynolds for $75,000 out of a second-place finish in a main-track sprint Dec. 1, and returned to wire the two-turn Alex M. Robb Handicap for New York-breds four weeks later. Tom's Thunder is also nominated to Saturday's Stymie.

My Man Ryan has a 3-3-1 record from eight starts on the inner track but has yet to crack a 70 Beyer in two wet-track attempts.

Trovato dead at 67

Joe Trovato, the trainer of the 1974 Eclipse Award-winning filly Chris Evert, died on Feb. 28 of natural causes. He was 67.

Chris Evert, owned by Carl Rosen, was Trovato's best runner. She won the Eclipse for 3-year-old filly after sweeping New York's filly triple crown series - the Acorn, Mother Goose, and Coaching Club American Oaks.

A native of Brooklyn, Trovato dropped out of college in 1960 to work as a jockey agent. In 1969, he got a job as an assistant trainer with Bobby Frankel. Two years later, he went out on his own, winning with his first starter, Pilsen Wolf.

Trovato retired from training with $7.8 million in earnings and 474 wins from 3,440 starts.

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