Gio d'Oro looks like one to catch in allowance

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When Gio d’Oro won a New York-bred allowance race by 11 lengths in the slop at Belmont Park in May, it looked like trainer Brad Cox would have a fun summer with the 3-year-old gelded son of Gio Ponti.

Unfortunately, Gio d’Oro came out of that race with an injury that knocked him out of key summer statebred stakes. Friday, Gio d’Oro makes his third start off the layoff in a New York-bred second-level allowance/optional $40,000 claimer and looks like the one to catch in the feature on Aqueduct’s eight-race card.

Eight were entered in the 1 1/8-mile race, but trainer Jeffrey Englehart said that the speedy Playthatfunnymusic would scratch to run in a similar spot going seven furlongs here on Sunday.

Gio d’Oro is coming off a second-place finish in this condition going a mile here on Dec. 16. Cox wasn’t disappointed in his gelding’s effort considering he had just one run in the prior seven months.

“I thought he ran a heck of a race,” Cox said Wednesday from Oaklawn. “He was run down by a horse that ran extremely well.”

Gio d’Oro was coming out of a two-turn race where he finished third. Cox believes Gio d’Oro may ultimately prove be better on turf, but noted: “When he’s been ready to run, it’s been at Aqueduct in the winter. That’s the main reason we’ve run him so much on the dirt. We think he’s a dual-surface horse.”

Singapore Trader and Storm Prophet look like the major threats to Gio d’Oro and both figure to be stalking him.

Singapore Trader, trained by Todd Pletcher, has won his last two, both one-turn mile races. He finished third in the Albany Stakes in his only start going two turns on dirt.

Storm Prophet won two consecutive statebred races in December 2017 going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct. He is winless in six starts since, but returns to statebred company for the first time in 13 months. He is being offered for the claiming price.

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KEY CONTENDERS

Gio d’Oro, by Gio Ponti
Last 3 Beyers: 91-86-86

◗ Distance a question mark, but if jockey Eric Cancel can get him to rate on the lead, he could be tough to catch.

◗ Has never finished worse than third in eight career starts.

Storm Prophet, by Tale of the Cat
Last 3 Beyers: 78-92-84

◗ Went 0 for 6 in 2018, but in two of those races he faced eventual stakes winners Plainsman and Mr. Buff.

Does have nine second-place finishes and just three wins in 23 career starts.

◗ Junior Alvarado rides him on Friday, and he has been aboard nine of trainer Linda Rice’s 12 winners at the Aqueduct winter meet.

Singapore Trader, by Flatter
Last 3 Beyers: 88-81-72

◗ Dominated an off-the-turf allowance going a mile in what proved to be the 6,000th career victory for jockey John Velazquez.

◗ Was beaten only 1 1/2 lengths when third to Sea Foam in the Albany, his lone try at this distance.