I Am the Law should get preferred sloppy track

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It’s a good thing I Am the Law likes a wet track. He gets one almost half the time he runs.

Sunday figures to be no different when I Am the Law runs in a second-level allowance/optional $62,500 claiming feature scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on Aqueduct’s nine-race card.

There is a winter storm forecast for late Saturday into Sunday, though it looks to be more rain than snow in the Queens area if the forecast models hold.

I Am the Law is only 3 for 20, but two of those wins have come over wet surfaces. All totaled, I Am the Law is 2-4-3 from nine wet-track starts.

A 6-year-old gelding by Mshawish, I Am the Law won a starter allowance in the slop going 1 1/8 miles here in October 2022. More recently, he is coming off a third-place finish in this second-level condition going 1 3/16 miles in the slop on Dec. 10, his second start off a layoff. The horse that beat him, Quality Chic, came back to run a strong second in last weekend’s Queens County Stakes.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets.

In his first start off the layoff, on Nov. 2, I Am the Law ran in a one-mile race where he finished last of eight behind Castle Chaos, a horse who came back to run in third in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile.

“It ended up being a really fast race, I thought,” John Terranova, trainer of I Am the Law, said of that Nov. 2 race. “A bunch of them I think ran the race of their lives that day. It was just the wrong spot, the wrong distance. He prefers the two turns. He likes to be a little more involved.”

I Am the Law is back at 1 1/8 miles on Sunday and he will break from the rail under Kendrick Carmouche so he figures to be forwardly placed.

Whereas I Am the Law likes a wet track, Olympic Dreams has not performed well over it. He is 0 for 3 on a wet surface, with one well-beaten third-place finish on it. On a dry track, he would be a contender, coming off a first-level allowance win.

Luigi’s Spirit was second in the slop at Fair Grounds two starts back before finishing fifth of six in a listed stakes at Laurel on Dec. 23.

Carpenters Call, Good Skate, Laughing Boy, Midnight Trouble, and Montauk Point complete the field.

Fingal’s Cave to wait for spring

Fingal’s Cave, who returned off a 432-layoff to win the Bay Ridge Stakes at Aqueduct on Dec. 28, will likely not have her next race until April, trainer David Donk said Friday.

Donk said Fingal’s Cave will be pointed to either the Grade 1, $600,000 Madison at Keeneland on April 6 or the Grade 3, $175,000 Distaff Handicap, tentatively scheduled for April 13 at Aqueduct.

Fingal’s Cave was shipped to WinStar Farm in Kentucky, where she will remain in training before rejoining Donk’s Belmont stable around March 1. WinStar has a synthetic track as well as a dirt surface on which Fingal’s Cave can train.

Donk said owner Alistair Fyfe didn’t want Fingal’s Cave to remain in New York to train this winter.

“I can’t blame him. This track can be extremely challenging,” Donk said referring to the Belmont training track.

Fingal’s Cave, a 5-year-old New York-bred daughter of Carpe Diem, has won five of six starts. Her lone loss came when she ran second to Wicked Halo in the Grade 2 Raven Run at Keeneland.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.