Friday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Factually Correct better than recent results suggest
Aqueduct | Race 7 | Post Time 4:13 p.m. (ET)
If the rail bias that we have observed over the last week persists into Friday, Vibrant Express (#1) obviously becomes a serious threat to wire this field. I will continue to hope that the track maintenance crew can even out the surface, and without that potential advantage I wouldn't have much interest in this horse. He's obviously in strong form right now, having won three in a row. However, he's beaten up on softer company and has done so with very favorable trips.
I prefer the proven class of some others. That includes Sheriff Bianco (#3), who is probably the one to beat as he drops out of a series of tougher spots for Linda Rice. His form has tailed off, but it's not as if he ran that badly in his last couple of starts considering the competition. I will be interested to see if he makes it past scratch time, since Rice has entered this horse at this level at least a couple times in the last few months and scratched him each time. If he runs, he's obviously a win candidate.
Beary Funny (#2) regressed when last seen at this level, but that race was dominated towards the front end and he could never get involved. I liked that he was more engaged two back when chasing home the talented Mo Eighty Eight. A return to that form puts him squarely in the mix.
The horse I want to bet is Factually Correct (#9). He might be fast enough to make the lead over Vibrant Express if Luis Rivera Jr. really sends him aggressively from this outside post. He actually broke on top last time but Rivera wasn't intent on making the lead over some quick rivals to his inside, and he settled into a wide, stalking trip. That was never going to work on Dec. 10, another day that featured a rail bias. He's disappointed recently, but had claims voided by the vet in each of those starts, so perhaps he wasn't at his best either time. He now returns from another brief freshening, and can upset this field if he gets back to the form he displayed for these connections at Saratoga last summer