Fox Rules returns to favored track for Genesee Valley
Fox Rules was trounced by Awesome Vision when they met in a pair of stakes for New York-breds last season at Belmont Park and Aqueduct. But the outcome could be different when Fox Rules runs on his favorite track in the July 4 feature at Finger Lakes.
Horse-for-the-course Fox Rules will be in his comfort zone when he faces Awesome Vision and seven other statebreds going 1 1/16 miles in the $50,000 Genesee Valley Breeders’ Stakes.
In six starts locally, Fox Rules has five wins, including the 2012 running of the New York Derby. He launched his 5-year-old campaign with a 2 1/2-length victory against open company in May, earning a career-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure. His lone defeat at Finger Lakes came when he was second as the 3-2 favorite in last year’s Genesee Valley.
Awesome Vision was a five-time winner in 2013, including the Move It Now at Aqueduct, where he finished 15 lengths in front of Fox Rules. But his current form is dull. In his lone start this season, Awesome Vision was a distant sixth in the Commentator Handicap, a race in which he was a good third last year.
The field also includes Talk Therapy, who won last year’s Genesee Valley and boasts a 5-for-7 record locally. He easily defeated $7,500 starter-allowance company in his lone start this season and subsequently posted a pair of half-mile bullet workouts. Leading trainer Chris Englehart has hit at a 25 percent clip (10 for 40) over the past five years with last-out winners making their second start off a layoff in a route, according to DRF ’s Formulator.
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Moneyinyour Pocket and Bold Deed could be live longshots.
The 5-year-old Moneyinyour Pocket returns to Finger Lakes, where he has been involved in the exacta in 10 of 13 starts, for the first time since September. He makes the second start of his current form cycle for trainer Charlton Baker, who is 8 for 33 (24 percent) with route runners in that category at Finger Lakes over the last five years.
Bold Deed was good enough in 2012 to record a 103 Beyer for winning a one-mile race at Aqueduct. After two years on the sidelines, he regained his good form last time out, crushing restricted claimers. His trainer, Michael Ferraro, is 24 for 64 (38 percent) over the last two years with last-out winners returning in a route within 21 days.