Morey, Pico d'Oro new kids on block in Jimmy Winkfield

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Midwest-based trainer Bill Morey has won more than 1,700 races in a career that has spanned two decades. On Sunday, he will make his first start at a New York Racing Association track when he ships in Pico d’Oro as a top contender for the $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.

“I’ve won a lot of races at a lot of different places,” Morey said Thursday from Turfway Park in Kentucky. “It’ll be exciting to take a shot in the stakes there. I hope we get lucky, hope we run good.”

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Pico d’Oro, a son of Curlin and a grandson of Grade 1 Acorn winner Champagne d’Oro, was good enough to win the Ellis Park Juvenile as a maiden last August before facing some tough company in allowance races at Keeneland and Churchill last fall.

On Dec. 18, Pico d’Oro won a first-level allowance race over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface. Prior to that, on Nov. 28 at Churchill, he finished fourth behind Mandaloun, the subsequent beaten favorite in the Grade 3 Lecomte at Fair Grounds. Pico d’Oro made a big middle move in that Nov. 28 race before flattening out. That race produced three next-out winners.

Though Pico d’Oro is coming off a win on synthetic, Morey is confident he’s equally as good on dirt.

“I think he can do either,” he said. “He’s trained well lately on synthetic, but it’s that he’s doing well right now.”

Pico d’Oro is drawn nicely on the outside in this six-horse field and has the meet’s leading rider, Kendrick Carmouche, aboard.

Maryland-based trainer Brittany Russell ships up Hello Hot Rod, a half-brother to Russell’s five-time stakes-winning filly Hello Beautiful. After winning a maiden $40,000 claimer on Nov. 13 at Laurel, Hello Hot Rod won a first-level allowance going a mile there, a race that produced three next-out winners including Shackqueenking, who captured the Howard County Stakes.

“It was a great effort,” Russell said. “This horse has shown he can go or sit. I think that’s a big deal moving forward, taking that jump from 2 to 3. He’s not one dimensional.”

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Hello Hot Rod, who breaks from the rail, is coupled with Parx Racing shipper Scotch Rock’s, seventh with trouble in the Spectacular Bid Stakes on Jan. 16 at Laurel. Trevor McCarthy rides Hello Hot Rod ,while Katie Davis, his wife, rides Scotch Rock’s. New York state law require horses in the same race that are ridden by spouses be coupled in the wagering.

Weyburn, a maiden winner in the mud on the Dec. 5 Cigar Mile Day card here, makes his first start against winners in the Winkfield. He missed a potential start in the Jerome due to illness, but is training well, including a three-furlong blowout in 35.86 seconds here Thursday. After running fifth in his debut, Weyburn seemed to improve with the addition of blinkers in his last two starts.

“He seems to look at everything all the time,” trainer Jimmy Jerkens said. “I thought he’d pay attention a little more.”

Return the Ring, a debut winner on Nov. 28 for Eddie Barker, and Magnificent Chrome complete the field.