Far From Over will skip Gotham to await Wood Memorial

Far From Over, the Withers Stakes winner, will skip next Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes and will instead train up to the $1 million Wood Memorial on April 4, his connections confirmed on Sunday.

Also, Steven Marshall's Black Rock Thoroughbreds has sold a quarter interest in Far From Over to James Covello and Sol Kumin, the latter of whom races under the moniker Madaket Stable.

“This is a business and I have tortured myself into believing we have to make good business decisions and I've been on both sides - buy, sell, buy sell - and we decided to sell a piece of a horse to a great friend of ours,” Marshall said.

Marshall and Covello also have dealings in the oil business. Covello said he had been trying to buy Far From Over even before the horse started.

“We’ve been talking about him even before the horse started racing,” Covello said. “The first race I thought was really impressive and the numbers came back really well. After his first race, Steve and I had a long conversation and after the second race we had an even longer conversation and we decided it was something we wanted to do.”

:: ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays

In his second career start, Far From Over overcame a bad stumble to win the Withers on Feb. 7. While the Gotham was under consideration, trainer Todd Pletcher had indicated last week that he was leaning toward waiting for the Wood Memorial. Far From Over was scheduled to work Sunday at Palm Beach Downs, but heavy rains left the track very wet and thus he did not breeze.

"We had the Gotham under consideration but the Wood was always the plan based on how well he did with seven weeks between races," said Nick Sallusto, the racing manager for both Black Rock and Covello. "Timing-wise it gave him a little more time. There were no workouts this morning and that helped make our decision for us."

While Pletcher will not run Far From Over in the Gotham, he is expected to still be represented in the 1 1/16-mile race by two horses owned by Mike Repole - Dontbetwithbruno and Blame Jim. Dontblamewithbruno won a maiden race at Aqueduct on Feb. 1 while Blame Jim runs off a second-place finish in a first-level allowance race at Gulfstream on Feb. 8. Blame Jim, a son of Sharp Humor, had won his debut sprinting at Saratoga last July before being sidelined.

Ocean Knight, the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis winner, and El Kabeir, the Grade 3 Jerome winner and Withers runner-up, figure to vie for favoritism in the Gotham, which offers 85 points to the top four finishers on a 50-20-10-5 scale towards the May 2 Kentucky Derby.

Others under consideration for the Gotham include Tencendur, Classy Class, and Tencendur, third and fourth respectively, in the Withers; Lieutenant Colonel, a debut winner at Gulfstream, and possibly Combat Diver, runner-up in the Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel on Feb. 16.

On Sunday, at Belmont Park, El Kabeir, Tencendur, and Combat Diver each put in workouts over the Belmont Park training shortly after 9:30 a.m.

El Kabeir worked a half-mile in 50.16 seconds but galloped out very strongly afterwards, going five furlongs in 1:02.71 and six furlongs in 1:15.78.

In upper stretch, exercise rider Simon Harris put El Kabeir right behind his workmate Finding Candy in order to get dirt kicked in his face. Inside the eighth pole, Harris guided El Kabeir in the clear and he finished about two lengths in front of Finding Candy.

“Simon said everything was perfect,” trainer John Terranova said. “We’ve always been working with this horse even before the Jerome to relax and finish and stretch that speed out and he’s obviously been doing it. Last time, we engaged with Classy Class early but it looked like he could have rated easily if he wanted to. That’s kind of how he’s become now and we’ve trained him accordingly.”

A few minutes later, Tencendur, beaten four lengths when fourth in the Withers, worked five furlongs in 1:01.55 in company with Fidelius, a 4-year-old maiden. With jockey Cornelio Velasquez in the irons, Tencendur began the move about two lengths behind Fidelius and went his opening quarter in 24.65 seconds. Tencendur went his last three furlongs in 36.90 seconds.

Tencendur, trained by George Weaver for Phil Birsh, worked in blinkers and will wear them for the first time in the Gotham.

Blair Golen, the New York-based assistant to Weaver, said the blinkers keep Tencendur a bit more focused and help the rider in getting the large colt to change leads.

“When he ran he didn’t change his leads until the sixteenth pole and that took a lot of ground away from him because he’s a momentum horse,” Golen said.

Combat Diver, runner-up in the Miracle Wood Stakes, worked five furlongs in 1:03.97 by himself.