Haul Anchor sticks with statebreds for Gander
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Of the trio of 3-year-olds trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has nominated to the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 4, only Haul Anchor has proven himself around two turns.
But McLaughlin wants to try Always a Suspect around two turns and give True Timber another shot in a route race so they will be aimed at the Withers, run at 1 1/16 miles.
Meanwhile, Haul Anchor, upset winner of the Damon Runyon Stakes for New York-breds on Dec. 29, will stay with his fellow statebreds and run in Saturday’s $100,000 Gander Stakes at Aqueduct.
McLaughlin said that keeping Haul Anchor with New York-breds “makes the most sense.”
The Gander, run at a mile and 70 yards, drew only five New York-bred 3-year-olds. The racing office also carded a first-level allowance for statebred 3-year-olds that drew a field of seven, four of whom were Gander nominees.
Haul Anchor is a son of Bernardini, and his female family has produced stakes winners Fed Biz and Preach. Haul Anchor finished first or second in his first four starts before losing by 35 1/2 lengths in the Sleepy Hollow Stakes in the slop at Belmont on Oct. 22. He was dismissed at odds of 13-1 in the Damon Runyon because that race was run over a sloppy track, yet Haul Anchor wired the field under Cornelio Velasquez.
The forecast for Saturday calls for dry conditions, so the inner track will likely be fast.
Haul Anchor, who breaks from the rail, will meet the undefeated Bavaro, a son of Freud who won a division of the New York Stallion Series on Dec. 17 by 3 3/4 lengths in a performance that earned him a 101 Beyer Speed Figure. Bavaro drew post 5.
Bavaro, trained by Gary Sciacca for Bill Parcells, will be trying two turns for the first time. Caledonian, winner of the Lost in the Fog Stakes at six furlongs, also will try a route of ground for the first time for trainer John Terranova, who was the trainer of Gander.
Carradine, third in the Damon Runyon, and Bourbon Empire, who scratched from the Damon Runyon due to the sloppy track, complete the field.
With only a field of five, the Gander will go as race 3 on Saturday.