Far From Over training in Florida

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though he is expected to make his next start in New York, Withers Stakes winner Far From Over arrived at the Palm Beach Downs training center in south Florida on Thursday morning in order to maintain a regular training regimen, according to trainer Todd Pletcher.

Far From Over, who overcame a bad stumble to win last Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers by 1 3/4 lengths, will run next at Aqueduct in either the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham on March 7 or the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial on April 4.

Far From Over won his debut at Aqueduct on Dec. 12 before shipping to Palm Beach Downs, where he trained leading up to his impressive Withers victory.

“The horse trained real well at Palm Beach Downs,” Pletcher said Thursday. “He’s a horse that seems to ship without any issues. It sounds like there should be some plane activity back up for the Gotham should we decide to go there, and if we decide to wait for the Wood, we could do that from here and have a little more reliable training schedule.”

Pletcher said he won’t decide for a couple of weeks whether to run back in the Gotham or wait for the Wood.

“We’ll have to see what the horse is doing and how he’s training, and if he’s crawling out of his skin, we could come back for the Gotham,” Pletcher said. “If we felt like we needed a little more time, then we could wait on the Wood.”

Whether Far From Over runs or not, Pletcher will have at least one starter in the Gotham in Dontbetwithbruno, a son of Tiz Wonderful who won a maiden race by a nose here Feb. 1 in his third start.

“I was encouraged by the fact that he got headed and he came back on,” Pletcher said, referring to Dontbetwithbruno’s narrow maiden win. “The race before that, he was gaining late. I think he’s still a bit immature; he’s still figuring it out. Probably when he made the lead, he got a little bit lost and didn’t know what to do with it, so I think there’s still room for improvement there. We’ll give him the acid test in the Gotham and see where he fits in the whole scheme of things.”

◗ Majestic Affair, the dominant winner of the Fred “Cappy” Capossela Stakes at Aqueduct and the Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes at Laurel, breezed a half-mile in 49.02 seconds Thursday at Belmont Park. His next start has not been finalized, but if he’s kept sprinting, his next option in New York is the $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 28.