Handal barn heating up as weather cools down
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Ray Handal is enjoying a productive fall meet at Aqueduct, something he hopes is a harbinger for the winter when he will have strings in both New York and South Florida.
Through the first 18 days of the 29-day Aqueduct fall meeting, Handal has nine wins from 28 starters, tying him for second in wins with Todd Pletcher, both five behind Chad Brown. Handal has won with claimers, allowance types, and on Nov. 27 he captured the Tepin Stakes with the promising 2-year-old turf filly Sweetlou’sgotaces, who entered the race as a maiden.
“We were getting close to the end of grass season, I thought let’s break her maiden first and then we’ll start exploring,” said Handal, who trains Sweetlou’sgotaces for Gary Barber, Adam Wachtel, and Twin Sports Racing. “But it got to the position where it was either this or we wait until Florida. We figured let’s try here, and it worked out well.”
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Sweetlou’sgotaces, a daughter of Constitution, won the Tepin by four lengths and earned an 84 Beyer Speed Figure. Sweettlou’sgotaces will be part of a 10-horse string Handal will keep at Palm Meadows, a training center in South Florida. She will likely get a brief freshening and then point to the Grade 3, $175,000 Sweetest Chant Stakes on Feb. 4 at Gulfstream.
Handal said he plans to be active at the claim box in Florida. On Dec. 1, he claimed Thinkaboutit for $62,500 at Gulfstream.
Handal will have 25 to 30 horses based in New York. The leaders of that group could be Two Three Zone and Funny How, who could be stakes performers during the Aqueduct winter season. Two Three Zone, a 4-year-old son of Constitution, was impressive winning allowance races at Belmont and Saratoga during the spring and summer. He came out of a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Forego with a throat issued that required minor surgery. Two Three Zone has had two breezes recently and is pointing to the $135,000 Gravesend here Dec. 30.
Funny How, a 3-year-old daughter of Overanalyze, has won three straight races – all at Aqueduct – including a second-level New York-bred allowance by three lengths on Nov. 20. Handal said she could run in an open first-level allowance race or a New York-bred stakes such as the La Verdad or Broadway, typically run in January and February, respectively.
Timeless Journey, a 5-year-old New York-bred mare, won an open first-level allowance on Nov. 20 and will likely show up in a second-level allowance next out.
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