Greeley and Ben wheels back for last N.Y. start in Gravesend; $90,453 pick six carryover

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Coming off a last-to-first victory in the $100,000 Dave’s Friend Staks at Laurel Park just one week ago, the 9-year-old gelding Greeley and Ben is being wheeled right back in Saturday’s $150,000 Gravesend Stakes at Aqueduct.

A combination of a five-horse field and how well Greeley and Ben appeared to come out of the Dave’s Friend were impetus to run him in the six-furlong Gravesend, trainer Horacio DePaz said.”

“We’ll try something a little bit out of our style, but those older horses seem to do okay with that,” DePaz said.

On Monday, New Year’s Day, all horses have a birthday and Greeley and Ben will be 10 years old. A New York Racing Association house rule prohibits 10-year-olds from stabling or racing at its tracks. DePaz, who has horses based in New York and Maryland, said that didn’t play a factor in his and owner Danny Abramowitz deciding to run here.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets.

“We can still run at other racetracks,” DePaz said. “He likes Aqueduct, and as far as a physical standpoint there’s nothing that I see that he’s not happy or chipper or anything like that.”

DePaz also noted that Greeley and Ben has raced only three times this year – winning twice – after being away from the races for a year before returning in November. Overall, Greeley and Ben is 25 for 42 and a win or second on Saturday would make him a millionaire.

Though Greeley and Ben had shown speed in his younger days, he has rallied from last to win each of his last two starts.

In his allowance win on Dec. 2, Greeley and Ben “came up the rail and just got there in time. Last time, we were thinking we wanted to be a little closer to the pace. It seemed like he broke okay and he just let the horses run away from him and he was comfortable back there and around the turn he started making a good move. Once he got outside and in the clear he was running pretty steady down the lane.”

If he is to win the Gravesend, Greeley and Ben will likely have to run down Durante, who looks like the main speed in the compact field. Durante was a front-running winner of the Grade 3 Bold Ruler on Oct. 27, then was pressed and gave way grudgingly to Bold Journey when finishing second, beaten one length by that one, in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight on Nov. 24. Durante was conceding six pounds to Bold Journey in the Fall Highweight. The two are at level weights Saturday.

“I’m happy with the way he ran. More importantly I’m happy with the way he came out of the race,” David Jacobson, the trainer of Durante said.

Jacobson also entered Stage Left, who finished sixth, beaten one length, by Greeley and Ben in last week’s Dave Friend.

“He came out of the race so good. There’s nowhere else to run him. It’s such a short field, it’s a good opportunity,” Jacobson said. “He might surprise everybody. He had such a rough trip in the Dave’s Friend.”

Bold Journey has won two straight for Bill Mott.

Rotknee was a pace-presser when he won the Hudson Stakes for New York-breds on Oct. 29. He chased the pace when third in the Fall Highweight.

With only five runners, the Gravesend is carded as race 3 on a nine-race card that begins at 12:20 p.m. Saturday's card will feature a carryover of $90,453 in the pick six after the bet went unhit Thursday and Friday. Saturday's sequence starts with race 4.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.