Hot Fudge takes Interborough, Bergen wins Jimmy Winkfield

Hot Fudge won a tough stretch battle with Dr. B to capture the $150,000 Interborough Stakes on Saturday at Aqueduct, while earlier on the card Bergen was much the best in the $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield.

Bergen gave trainer Brad Cox his fourth stakes win of 2024 at Aqueduct, though Cox’s record in such races this year no longer is perfect because Air Cav finished third in the Winkfield, a six-furlong contest for 3-year-olds.

Cox in January won the Busanda with Gin Gin, the Ladies with Comparative, and the Jerome with Drumroll Please.

Bergen, a debut winner at Keeneland and a good second on Nov. 25 in a Churchill Downs one-turn mile allowance race, was expected to take the Winkfield and did so by 5 1/4 lengths at odds of 4-5. Jockey Manny Franco kept Bergen wide, settling in fourth the first furlong as El Divino Nino and Iridescent volleyed for the lead. Bergen loomed midway around the turn as El Divino Nino threw in the towel, the favorite collaring Iridescent in upper stretch and going on to an easy win.

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Bergen was timed in 1:12.63 over a sloppy, sealed track and paid $3.80. Iridescent was a clear second in a spread-out five-runner field. Owned by Spendthrift Farm, Martin Schwartz, Gandharvi, Big Easy Racing, Rick Kanter, James Bakke, Titletown Racing Stables, Kueber Racing, Golconda Stable, Ali Goodrich, and Mark Parkinson, Bergen is a colt by Liam’s Map out of Toni’s Hollyday, by Harlan’s Holiday.

The Interborough, over seven furlongs for older fillies and mares, was much more hotly contested, and Hot Fudge showed great heart holding clear Dr. B.

Hot Fudge dueled on the lead with White Chocolate through a half-mile in 46.67, but after putting her pace rival away, Hot Fudge looked in upper stretch like she would be swallowed up by Ain’t Broke on the far outside and Dr B, who was racing inside Ain’t Broke, the 3-2 favorite, lost momentum past the three-sixteenths pole, but Dr B pushed on, getting on even terms with Hot Fudge just past the furlong grounds. Hot Fudge, under strong urging from Kendrick Carmouche, battled back to prevail by a half-length.

Ain’t Broke managed to hold third but was five lengths behind Dr B. Hot Fudge was timed in 1:25.95 over a muddy, sealed track and paid $8.80 as the third choice. Linda Rice trains Hot Fudge, a 5-year-old daughter of Liam’s Map and the Into Mischief mare Noelle’s Mischief, for the KEM Stable.

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