Hold That Prospect dominates Correction

The most anxious moments for the connections of Hold That Prospect came prior to the running of Saturday's $65,000 at Aqueduct.

The riders of the Aqueduct jockey colony met after each of the first two races to vote whether they wanted to continue to ride. Freezing temperatures created some issues regarding the track and a vote was taken among the riders whether to continue. The jockeys agreed to ride through the first three races, the third being the Correction, before canceling the remainder of the card.

Trainer Gary Gullo breathed a sigh of relief when the jockeys appeared in the paddock for the Correction, which went exactly how he hoped. Breaking sharply under Jorge Chavez, Hold That Prospect led every step of the way to win the Correction by 7 1/2 lengths. Heaven's Voice, who stumbled at the start and had to be taken up by Ramon Dominguez, was able to rally for second, by a nose over Fascinatin' Rhythm. What Time It Is finished fourth, followed by Bright Halo.

The victory was the 12th from 26 career starts for Hold That Prospect, a 5-year-old daughter of Hold That Tiger. It was her first stakes victory. It was also the first stakes win for Funky Munky Stable, a partnership headed by Richard Munk. It was the first stakes victory for trainer Gary Gullo since Travelator won the Garland of Roses here on Dec. 11, 2004.

Gullo claimed Hold That Prospect for Funky Munky last March for $30,000 and she has won 5 of 8 starts since.

"Never did I think we'd win a stakes with a horse we claimed for $30,000," Richard Munk, the head of Funky Munky said. "You're just not supposed to do that."

Gullo was confident in Hold That Prospect's chances leading up to the Correction, sensing his mare had the most early speed of any of her four rivals. It played out that way as Hold That Prospect opened up a clear advantage through fractions of 23.58 and 46.73 seconds. She covered the six furlongs in 1:11.23, receiving just one slap on the shoulder from Chavez. Hold That Prospect returned $3.60 as the favorite.

"It was a nice win," Gullo said. "I was a little worried because I thought they were going to cancel. I said 'Don't cancel,' this was a pretty nice spot. She ran the whole way. She really impressed me."

Following the Correction, the jockeys voted not to ride. Chavez said the rail was too hard and that there were rocks or stones in other parts of the track. P.J. Campo, the New York Racing Association's director of racing, said it was a "split room" on whether or not to continue. Other riders declined to comment to reporters.

"It's all part of winter racing," Campo said. "You're either here to ride or you're not. It was definitely a split room. I'm a little disappointed it being a Saturday that we couldn't get the card in."

Campo said that he did tell the riders after one meeting that they couldn't decide race by race because there was a pick-six carryover of $28,528 beginning with race 4 and a pick 4 with a guaranteed pool of $250,000 that was to start with race 6.