Instagrand facing multifaceted test in Gotham

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It was 25 degrees with a windchill in the teens when Instagrand walked onto Aqueduct’s main track shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday morning. The undefeated speedster walked into the starting gate, chilled out, backed out, and then jogged a lap around the 1 1/8-mile main track.

Back at the barn, Instagrand walked the shed – sans blanket for a turn or two – as if to say ‘Cold, what cold?’

Saturday, Instagrand hopes to turn up the heat in the 3-year-old division and potentially establish himself as a Kentucky Derby candidate when he heads a field of eight set to run a mile in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes here.

The Gotham will be Instagrand’s first start in 210 days, or since he won the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes by 10 1/4 lengths at Del Mar on Aug. 11. That followed a 10-length maiden victory six weeks earlier at Los Alamitos.

Away from the races since, Instagrand faces legitimate obstacles in the Gotham. Aside from the 30-week layoff, there are two Grade 1 winners – Mind Control and Knicks Go – in the field. Instagrand will be racing beyond six furlongs for the first time. Finally, Aqueduct’s main track is deep, not in the mold of your typical Southern California track.

Asked if he thought the different surface might be a concern, Dan Ward, longtime assistant to Instagrand’s trainer, Jerry Hollendorfer, said, “Yeah, I guess.”

Translated, that meant, ‘No, not really.’

Instagrand showed devastating speed in his two starts, but Hollendorfer said earlier in this week he believes his horse is more versatile.

“I have no doubt he could be tactical if he has to; he rates very well,” Hollendorfer said. “He will wait for the rider to ask him before he makes his run.”

Instagrand will have a new rider on Saturday, the four-time Eclipse Award winner Javier Castellano. The pair will break from post 6.

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Also shipping in from Southern California for the Gotham is Much Better, a Bob Baffert-trained son of Pioneerof the Nile who is coming off a first-level allowance win going 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Feb. 9. He was third to the Hollendorfer-trained Gunmetal Gray in the Sham going a mile on Jan. 5. Mike Smith will retain his seat on Much Better after racing in Southern California was canceled this weekend due to concerns over the surface.

Mind Control won the Jerome here going a mile on New Year’s Day and was purposely kept out of the Withers on Feb. 2 to await this spot. Trainer Gregg Sacco is confident Mind Control – who won the Grade 1 Hopeful last September – is ready to fire another big race on Saturday.

“I think he’s better than we were going into the Jerome,” Sacco said. “We’re happy where we’re at now. We’ll see if he’s good enough. Didn’t expect Instagrand to be in there. It’s going to be interesting. We’ll know where we’re at.”

John Velazquez, 2 for 2 on Mind Control, rides him again Saturday from post 2.

Not That Brady won the Damon Runyon Stakes for New York-breds by three lengths going a mile here on Dec. 31. In his first try against open stakes company, he was beaten a head by Tax in the Withers at 1 1/8 miles. He bumped with third-place finisher Our Braintrust in the stretch of that race, yet fought on gamely to the wire.

“When he got bumped he didn’t back off, he kept digging in,” trainer Rudy Rodriguez said.

Not That Brady has been dealing with a quarter crack on his right front foot, but Rodriguez has liked the way the gelding has trained in the days leading up to the race.

“He’s galloping on the muscle,” Rodriguez said. “Much, much stronger than before. The last couple of weeks he’s getting on the bridle. It looks like he’s putting everything together.”

Haikal, a son of Daaher and a half-brother to the Grade 1 winning sprinter Takaful, could be a threat in the lane. He is coming off a neck victory in the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes going seven furlongs.

“Everything indicates that he’ll go on further,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “His mind is great – better than his brother. His mind indicates he’ll do whatever we ask of him.”

Knicks Go won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at odds of 70-1 last fall at Keeneland and followed that with a runner-up finish to Game Winner in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. His last two outings have been poor, including a fifth-place finish in the Sam F. Davis.

Family Biz and Tikhvin Flew complete the field.

The Gotham, which offers 85 qualifying points (50-20-10-5) to the May 4 Kentucky Derby to its top four finishers, will go as race 10 on an 11-race card that begins at 12:20 p.m. It is the second leg of a pick-five wager that begins with the Florida Oaks from Tampa Bay Downs and includes the Tampa Bay Derby, the Busher at Aqueduct, and the Honeybee from Oaklawn Park.

All five races, as well as the Jeff Ruby Steaks from Turfway Park, will be shown live on Fox Sports 2 during a 2 1/2-hour broadcast beginning at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.