Entries solid for Aqueduct winter meet opener; turf racing a go through Saturday

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The temperature Thursday could reach 50 degrees. There are two turf races scheduled. There are double-digit size fields in five of the nine races.

Welcome to the first day of Aqueduct’s 2020-21 winter meet.

Very little will look different at the start of the 56-day winter session, which runs through March 28. As has been the case since the elimination of the inner track three years ago, virtually all racing will be conducted over the main track. There are two turf races scheduled for Thursday and three on Friday. Racing secretary Keith Doleshel is hopeful of carding turf for Saturday as well, but most likely that will be it if the forecast for rain on Sunday remains in effect.

Coming off an Aqueduct fall meet where average field size in dirt races was 8.06 horses per race, Doleshel is hopeful there will be enough dirt horses in New York to keep the product strong.

“Thursday and Friday entries would have been okay even if we didn’t have turf extras to fall back on,” Doleshel said. “So far, the dirt field size has been pretty good and that’s positive. I think we had a good fall meet. Hopefully, the momentum carries over to the winter meet.”

Though there are nine races scheduled this Thursday and Friday, Doleshel anticipates there being eight races on weekdays and nine on weekends moving forward.

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Doleshel, who has been at NYRA since 2017, was appointed Aqueduct racing secretary in the fall of 2019. COVID hit last March, cutting the winter meet short and scrapping the spring season entirely.

“The longer you’re in the position, the more comfortable you get writing condition books, finding out what the horsemen need, what they’re looking for, just interacting with them and trying to get the lay of the land,” Doleshel said. “I definitely feel a bit little bit more comfortable going into the second winter and hopefully that will lead to an improved product or maintaining as good a product as possible.”

There will be two weeks of racing before a 10-day break (Dec. 21-30). Racing resumes on Dec. 31 and will be conducted four days a week until March when the schedule is reduced to three days a week (Fridays through Sundays). The 11-day Aqueduct spring meet opens April 1.

The winter meet will consist of 42 stakes worth $4,570,000 in purses. A trio of stakes for 3-year-olds, each offering qualifying points to the May 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, highlight the program. The $150,000 Jerome on New Year’s Day is followed by the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers on Feb. 6 and the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham on March 6. The March 6 card consists of four stakes, including the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap for sprinters.

The other graded event is the Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan for sprinters on Jan. 30.

Wayne Potts is one of the few new trainers on the backstretch this winter. He had a strong fall meet, with six wins from 26 starters. Karl Broberg, who ran four horses at Belmont but none at Aqueduct, still plans to participate at some level.

Horacio DePaz won Saturday’s Grade 3 Go for Wand with Sharp Starr. He will have her and about 20 others based in New York this winter. DePaz has won 12 races from 56 starters in New York in 2020. Sharp Starr, a New York-bred, will have open-company options like the Interborough and Heavenly Prize or New York-bred stakes such as the Broadway and Hollie Hughes to choose from.

Jimmy Jerkens will forgo his annual trip to South Florida this winter and keep his stable in New York. Jonathan Thomas is keeping more horses in New York than in previous winters.

Manny Franco, the leading rider at the last three Aqueduct winter meets, will again be staying in New York for this winter. He figures to vie for top honors with Jose Lezcano, Kendrick Carmouche, Eric Cancel, and Dylan Davis. Among the new faces who could figure prominently this winter is Trevor McCarthy, among the leading riders in Maryland.

Linda Rice has won the training title the last two winters. She finished second to Rudy Rodriguez three winters prior to that. On Thursday’s opening-day card, Rice and Rodriguez both have entries in the final four races on the card, including the co-featured New York-bred allowance events.

In race 6, a one-mile dirt race for 3 and up that drew 16 entries, Rice sends out Cold Hard Cash, twice second in this condition, against Rodriguez’s Wudda U Think Now, who comes off an off-the-turf maiden win going six furlongs on Nov. 12. Rice also entered Too Early, but he would need two scratches to get into the field that is limited to 14.

In race 8, an allowance race for statebreds going six furlongs on turf, Rodriguez sends out perennial bridesmaid Doll in a field where the Christophe Clement-trained Fresco looms the horse to beat. Rice’s entrant, Honey Money, will run only if the race is run on the main track.