End of the Road brings top resume

JAMAICA, N.Y. - End of the Road's brush with fame came in April 2000 when he finished an Aqueduct allowance race in a dead-heat for first with Lemon Drop Kid, that year's Eclipse Award winner as top older horse.

End of the Road, a 7-year-old son of Strawberry Road, will not be rubbing elbows with any Eclipse Award winners in the seventh race at Aqueduct on Friday, which carries a $50,000 purse. His four rivals - Iron Chancellor, Un Fino Vino, My Request, and Skip a Grade - are eligible for the allowance race because they are nonwinners of three races other-than. End of the Road qualifies for the 1 1/16-mile race on the condition he has not won a race since May 1, 2000.

After his race with Lemon Drop Kid, End of the Road raced only three more times in 2000. In one of those starts, he finished fifth, beaten only three lengths by Hap, a multiple stakes winner, in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch on grass. After the Bernard Baruch, trainer Dennis Brida gave End of the Road a 15-month layoff to recover from tendon problems.

Brida, who claimed End of the Road as a 3-year-old for $35,000 for owner James Olson, brought the horse back to the races in November. Since then, End of the Road finished sixth and fifth in a pair of $75,000 claimers on the turf.

Although End of the Road is a winner over the inner track at the distance, Brida cautions that it may be a bit short for his horse, who is also a winner at 1 1/2 miles.

"He likes to go a lot longer, but I didn't have enough time to get him ready for a race like the [1 5/8-mile] Gallant Fox - and who knows if he's still that kind of horse," Brida said. "We planned his comeback around this time because that's when you can find some longer races. For now, this is a decent spot."

Lorenzo Lezcano rides End of the Road from post 1.

My Request, the likely favorite, is coming off three solid efforts in turf races, which netted him a win and two seconds for trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. Five of My Request's six career wins are on dirt, so the surface switch shouldn't pose a problem. A wet track would help Dutrow's gelding, but rain isn't anticipated.

Ben Perkins Jr., who has done very well with a small amount of starters at the meet, entered Skip a Grade, a winner here at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 14.

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