Erik the Red back on inner track in Saturday optional claimer
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It isn’t your typical Saturday feature on this circuit, but the $69,000 second-level optional-claiming event that tops Aqueduct’s nine-race program Saturday certainly presents handicappers with a challenge.
The race at a mile and 70 yards drew a field of 10, half of whom are entered for the $62,500 claiming price. That includes the 8-year-old gelding Spa City Fever and the 4-year-old gelding Irsaal, both of whom are getting class relief off less-than-stellar form.
Erik the Red, trained by Linda Rice, is returning to the inner track, where he has recorded both of his career victories, albeit sprinting.
The 3-year-old Charge Now is returning to dirt following a last-place finish in this condition Nov. 10. The last time he went turf to dirt, he won a maiden race at Gulfstream on the Florida Derby undercard.
Charge Now is one of two horses entered by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. The other is Mills, who will be making his first start on dirt in this, the 15th start of his career.
KEY CONTENDERS
Erik the Red (Last 3 Beyers: 85-80-85)
◗ Is 2 for 4 over the inner track, though he has yet to race around two turns. His mother, Silent Siren, was a two-time route winner over the inner track.
◗ Was gelded prior to his last start, where he finished third behind Mosler in this same condition going a mile over a sloppy main track. Wealth to Me, the runner-up in that race, came back to win an allowance race at Laurel with a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.
Charge Now (Last 3 Beyers: 68-79-87)
◗ The last time he raced on dirt in a non-graded stakes, he finished second, beaten a head by V. E. Day, in the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga. Subsequently, Charge Now finished seventh to V. E. Day in the Travers Stakes and fifth in the Oklahoma Derby in his last two dirt starts.
◗ Shows four decent works leading up to this.
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Spa City Fever (Last 3 Beyers: 80-98-92)
◗ Was being pointed to next week’s Alex M. Robb Stakes before a disappointing fifth-place finish here just three weeks ago. Now, the 8-year-old gelding is in for a $62,500 tag.
Irsaal (Last 3 Beyers: 62-78-93)
◗ His form has really tailed off since the spring, but he returns to the inner track, where he won for this level Feb. 22 when not in for the claiming tag. He is being offered for the tag Saturday.
Moneyinyour Pocket (Last 3 Beyers 87-81-80)
◗ Hard to leave out anything Charlton Baker is sending out these days. He is 3-4-1 from eight starts since the inner-track meet began.
◗ Moneyinyour Pocket has never won outside of Finger Lakes but did fill out a nice exacta last out at 16-1 in this same condition Dec. 4. Other forays onto this circuit resulted in a second in last year’s Alex M. Robb at 19-1 and a third in the 2013 Empire Classic at 25-1.