Hard Love using Woodhaven as a springboard to bigger, better, and longer stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hard Love may ultimately turn out to be the best of the 3-year-olds running in Saturday’s $100,000 Woodhaven Stakes at Aqueduct, but for the purposes of this 1 1/16-mile turf race, it may be wise to look elsewhere for the winner.

Hard Love went 1 for 2 last year with a second in the Central Park Stakes on Nov. 28 at Aqueduct. Trainer Jonathan Thomas said he hopes this race is a springboard to longer races such as the Pennine Ridge at 1 1/8 miles on May 29 at Belmont and the Belmont Derby at 1 1/4 miles in July.

:: Get David Aragona and Mike Beer’s Betting Strategies for Saturday’s card at Aqueduct

Following the Central Park, Hard Love was turned out in Florida for the winter and began working on the farm at Stonestreet in Ocala.

“We missed a couple of works because of the weather, so I think we’re behind a little bit where we’d like to be fitness-wise,” Thomas said. “But the objective is to have a nice race that will hopefully tee us for something like the Pennine Ridge.”

Thomas admitted to being surprised when Hard Love won his career debut going 1 1/16 miles last Oct. 10 at Belmont before his second to Never Surprised in the Central Park.

Javier Castellano rides Hard Love from the rail.

Original, trained by John Terranova, won his maiden over Aqueduct’s turf last Nov. 14. His connections tried him on the dirt in the Jerome Stakes here on New Year’s Day and he was eased.

None the worse for wear, Original was shipped to Gulfstream Park, and on Jan. 31 he ran a respectable third in the Grade 3 Kitten’s Joy. Original set the pace that day, and was caught by Chess’s Dream and Never Surprised, missing second by a nose.

Terranova said that jockey John Velazquez told him that at times during the race Original “wasn’t handling the turf that well there.”

“It was a little bit choppy in spots,” Terranoova said. “It was kind of getting away from his feet around the turns.”

Original got a three-week break in Ocala after that race before returning to Terranova’s New York-barn.

Jose Ortiz rides Original from post 5.

Shawdyshawdyshawy and Sifting Sands add depth to this field. Shawdyshawdyshawdy, trained by Jorge Abreu, had a wide trip and perhaps lost too much ground to make up when second in a first-level allowance Feb. 10 at Tampa.

Last September, Sifting Sands came out of a sixth-place finish in his debut sick. He came back to win a maiden race by a half-length on March 13 at Tampa Bay Downs.

“We thought a lot of him at 2,” trainer Chad Brown said. “We ran him and he came out of that maiden race pretty sick. He must have had something coming on. We stopped on that horse, kicked him out, brought him back, and he’s starting to show the promise he showed when he was an early summer 2-year-old.”

It’s a Gamble, Extrasexybigdaddee, and Minuteman complete the field.