Far From Over connections mull options after Withers win

Far From Over and El Kabeir, the one-two finishers from Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct, both appeared to come out of their races in good order, according to their connections, who are mulling their options for the future.

Far From Over, ridden by Manuel Franco, recovered from a terrible stumble at the gate to rally from last and win the Withers by 1 3/4 lengths.

Byron Hughes, the New York-based assistant for trainer Todd Pletcher, said Far From Over had no issues from the stumble.

“He came out of the race very clean, almost surprisingly clean after stumbling as bad as he did,” Hughes said.

Hughes added the horse will remain in New York for the time being. On Saturday, Pletcher said he needs to decide whether to leave Far From Over in New York for the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham on March 7 or bring him back to south Florida and point for something else. Far From Over is 2 for 2 over the inner track and earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance Saturday.

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El Kabeir came out of his second-place finish in good shape, according to trainer John Terranova. Despite his second-place finish, El Kabeir remains the leader in points accrued for qualification into the Kentucky Derby field should more than 20 horses enter, as has been the case 14 of the last 16 years.

“He looks good, ate up last night. He’s playing. Good energy,” Terranova said. “So far, so good.”

Terranova called El Kabeir’s race “more of a grinding effort than an explosive type of race.” El Kabeir was coming off a lifetime-best effort in the Jerome Stakes last month.

Terranova was non-committal on whether El Kabeir would run back in the Gotham or wait for the $1 million Wood Memorial on April 4 or possibly follow a different path.

“Anything’s possible right now,” he said.”See how he’s doing, how he trains on. He seems to be holding good form. We’ll see how things go the next couple of weeks, get with the Zayats, and see what they’re thinking.”

Ahmed Zayat, the owner of El Kabeir said it is his “gut feeling” that if El Kabeir is doing well, he’ll run in the Gotham.