Hit Show, after Withers win, likely for Wood Memorial, Cox says

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Hit Show made a successful off-Broadway debut winning Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct and it likely earned him a return engagement to New York for the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial here on April 8, his connections said Sunday.

Trainer Brad Cox said via text there is “a very good chance” Hit Show will run in the Wood, like the Withers, a 1 1/8-mile race, that would serve as his final tune-up for the May 6 Kentucky Derby. What’s less certain is whether he’ll remain in New York to train or join Cox’s stable in New Orleans. He will remain in New York until at least Wednesday.

Dustin Dugas, Cox’s Belmont-based assistant, said Hit Show “seemed to come out of it fine,” following his handy victory in the Withers that earned him 20 points toward the Kentucky Derby. Hit Show, who won the Withers by 5 1/2 lengths, earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance. He is owned and bred by Gary and Mary West.

As good as Hit Show was to the wire in the Withers, he was equally impressive galloping out afterward. Jockey Manny Franco said he put his hands down after hitting the wire but had to work to pull Hit Show up at the far end of the clubhouse turn.

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“The gallop out was very impressive,” Dugas said. “Manny loved it, too. That was one of the first things he said when he came back, ‘I had to pull him up, he just kept galloping out.’ It’s a bit exciting when they gallop out like that after running a big race.”

Hit Show, a son of Candy Ride, is out of the Tapit mare Actress who won the Grade 3 Comely takes at 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct in 2017. Tapit, who has turned into one of America’s premier stallions, won the 2004 Wood Memorial before finishing ninth in the Kentucky Derby.

Hit Show, who improved his record to 3 for 4, is one of just 10 horses Cox has based in New York this winter. That group includes another promising 3-year-old Slip Mahoney, who is pointing to the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham here on March 4. Slip Mahoney won a one-mile maiden race by a head over Crupi on Jan. 12, and they were 15 lengths clear of the rest of the field.

Prior to that victory, Slip Mahoney last fall finished fourth to Litigate and second to Tapit Trice in maiden races at Aqueduct. Litigate came back to win Saturday’s Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs, while Tapit Trice was an impressive allowance winner at Gulfstream on Feb. 4.

Slip Mahoney on Saturday worked four furlongs in 49.77 seconds over the Belmont training track.

Meanwhile, trainer Linda Rice said she is not sure where she will next run Arctic Arrogance, who finished second in the Withers, the New York-bred colt’s third consecutive runner-up performance in an open stakes. Rice said she believes the horse is probably a better miler, which makes her lean toward running him back in the Gotham, but she hasn’t totally ruled out giving him another try at 1 1/8 miles in the Wood Memorial. Arctic Arrogance wore blinkers for the first time in the Withers.

“Little undecided, but I would lean toward running him in the Gotham just because I think a mile is what might suit him,” Rice said Sunday. “I think the blinkers were good, Jose Lezcano liked the blinkers on him and I’m not gonna rule out the Wood because I think the condition of the track, being a heavy track, and the pace pressure [compromised him]. He may end up still deserving another chance.”

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