Friday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Az U Chase Me capable of better with clean trip
Aqueduct | Race 7 | Post Time 3:39 p.m. (ET)
It’s hard to know exactly where the public will land in this confusing $40k conditioned claiming event. I suppose Boys Code (#7) has to attract attention for the sheer fact that he’s making his first start off the claim for Rick Dutrow, who acquired him from a lower profile barn. The problem with Boys Code is twofold. He is a deep closer and this is a race that is severely lacking in early pace, so he could be compromised by the dynamics. Secondly, his form had significantly tailed off for his prior barn prior to him getting claimed, and it often isn’t so easy to resurrect these types even when they move into a more powerful stable. I won’t be surprised when he runs well, but there were enough red flags to make me look elsewhere.
I don’t want to take a similarly short price on Fake Celebrity (#2), who has never run on dirt before. He does have some pedigree for this surface, but he’s now exiting the Chad Brown barn and he’s going to take money based on turf speed figures. The other logical alternative Tricolour (#5) has run the fastest recent TimeformUS Speed Figures of anyone in this field, but he’s awfully tough to trust as a win candidate. It took him 42 starts to break his maiden, finally doing so against a weak field as the even-money favorite. He did step up against winners last time and ran a decent race, but he was back to settling for minor awards.
I’m most interested in a pair of alternatives who faced off at Finger Lakes. Incantation (#6) might be the more immediately appealing of the two, as he at least possesses some tactical speed in a race where he should have no trouble attaining forward position. He has to prove that he bring his Finger Lakes form to the NYRA circuit, but he did break his maiden over this course and distance as a 3-year-old, and it appears that he’s raced himself back into top form since returning from a lengthy layoff this summer.
My top pick is Az U Chase Me (#3), who finished just behind Incantation when chasing home that rival on Oct. 21 and Nov. 11 at Finger Lakes. He didn’t get much pace to close into on either occasion, but he was staying on well late to pick up the pieces. He came to New York last time to contest a race at this level, and the trip just didn’t work out. He was asked for some speed leaving the gate, but had to steady out of position in the first furlong. He got too keyed up from there, running up on heels exiting the chute, forcing Javier Castellano to again check him out of position. From there, he was conservatively ridden at the back of the pack in a race dominated up front. He’s better than that, and now gets a switch to Sofia Vives, who has been riding well with limited opportunities this winter.