Fall Highweight big race for La Verdad
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though it is only a Grade 3 stakes, Thursday’s $250,000 Fall Highweight Handicap could have Eclipse Award ramifications for La Verdad if she is able to defeat males in the traditional Thanksgiving Day feature at Aqueduct.
There is no clear-cut leader in the filly-and-mare sprint division. With three graded stakes victories and a second to Wavell Avenue in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, La Verdad would have to be considered a candidate for the Eclipse Award. She actually won four graded stakes this year but was disqualified from her four-length victory in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss at Saratoga after she tested positive for clenbuterol.
La Verdad is running in the Fall Highweight for a second consecutive year. In 2014, she finished last of seven behind Salutos Amigos – the horse to beat in this year’s Fall Highweight. Trainer Linda Rice said La Verdad bled through Lasix in last year’s Fall Highweight, which came at the end of an 11-race campaign.
“She had been in training for a year and a half,” Rice said. “She was tired and needed a break.”
This could be the final race of La Verdad’s career. Owner Sheila Rosenblum plans to breed La Verdad in 2016, presumably to Medaglia d’Oro, according to Rice.
La Verdad, assigned 127 pounds, is cutting back from seven furlongs to six furlongs, a distance at which she has won 10 of 14 starts. She possesses strong early speed but might have others to contend with on the front end, including Fabulous Kid and Green Gratto, the one-two finishers in a Nov. 18 allowance race here.
Salutos Amigos won this race last year under 133 pounds. This year, he carries 134 and is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
“He had a little bit of a foot problem going into the race,” Jacobson said, referring to the Breeders’ Cup. “Ian McKinlay had to work on him the morning of the race. He was good, he appeared to be 100 percent, but that’s not something you want to be thinking about or talking about the morning of the Breeders’ Cup.”
Jacobson said Salutos Amigos is “110 percent” going into Thursday’s race.
Also on Thursday’s card is the $150,000 Furlough Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, topped by Constellation. First post is 11:50 a.m. Eastern.
Fall Highweight Handicap
KEY CONTENDERS
Salutos Amigos (Last 3 Beyers: 96-103-95)
◗ Won this race last year by 1 3/4 lengths in the slop after finishing seventh, beaten three lengths, in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita. He was beaten 4 1/2 lengths in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint after having been patched for a quarter crack.
La Verdad (Last 3 Beyers: 91-89-102)
◗ Before being disqualified from the Honorable Miss due to a medication violation, she had finished first in six of her seven starts this year and was beaten 1 3/4 lengths in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint, one week after she won the Iroquois Stakes at Belmont.
◗ In the Iroquois, she showed the ability to rate, defeating next-out winner Tricky Zippy.
Palace (Last 3 Beyers: 93-93-102)
◗ Finished third as the favorite in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash on Nov. 14, encountering difficulty when Trouble Kid came out and caused interference.
◗ He also is trained by Rice, who used blinkers on Palace in the De Francis but will remove them for the Fall Highweight.
“I could have left them on, but I didn’t want him to be rank and show too much speed when I’ve got him and La Verdad in the same race,” Rice said.
Constellation heads Furlough
Constellation, second to Pretty N Cool in the Grade 2 Matron at Belmont on Oct. 18, looks like the horse to catch and beat in Thursday’s $150,000 Furlough Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs.
Constellation, a daughter of Bellamy Road trained by Steve Asmussen, won her debut sprinting at Saratoga before finishing third to Rachel’s Valentina in the Grade 1 Spinaway.
Completing the field are Tonasah and Wave of Glory, second and third in the Matron, and maiden winners Shayna Lady and Summer Reading.