One-turn Gotham useful spot for Freedom Fighter, Highly Motivated

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Put aside the fact the winner of Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct essentially earns a spot in the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby. The one-mile race is simply a logical spot for the development of probable race favorites Freedom Fighter and Highly Motivated, whose futures may include high-profile, albeit shorter, races in the 3-year-old division.

Freedom Fighter, a son of Violence trained by Bob Baffert, has a lot of natural speed and could be the one to catch in the Gotham, a race that offers its top four finishers qualifying points (50-20-10-5) to the May 1 Kentucky Derby.

“We’re not there for the points,” said Baffert, who has several other 3-year-olds seemingly better suited for the 1 1/4-miles of the Kentucky Derby. “It’s a nice race, one-turn. He’s built for speed.”

Freedom Fighter was game in his debut victory last August at Del Mar. In a five-furlong race, he fended off Dixie’s Two Stents and galloped out extremely well past the wire, suggesting more distance was feasible. Baffert said the horse came up with “a little issue” after that race and needed time.

Freedom Fighter returned in the Grade 2 San Vicente, a seven-furlong race, where again he flashed good early speed, and though game, he yielded grudgingly to stablemate Concert Tour.

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“He got beat by one of my top horses,” Baffert said. “He’s trained well since that race. He’s got natural speed; you can’t take too much of a hold of him. Hopefully they don’t go to too fast early.”

Manny Franco rides Freedom Fighter from post 7.

Highly Motivated, a son of Into Mischief, went 2 for 3 last year, including a victory in the Nyquist Stakes at Keeneland on Breeders’ Cup Friday. Three horses he beat that day came back to win their next start, two won stakes.

Highly Motivated came out of that race a little body sore, trainer Chad Brown said, and he was given ample time off. Brown has been pleased with the colt’s training since he’s gotten him back going at Payson Park in Florida.

“I was definitely going to bring him back in a one-turn race somewhere and this fit really well,” Brown said. “Points aside, it’s a good type of race to help get this horse started.”

Javier Castellano, who rode Highly Motivated in all three of his races last year, is up from Florida to ride. Highly Motivated will break from post 3.

Brown also entered Crowded Trade, a debut winner at Aqueduct going six furlongs on Jan. 28. Brown, who trains both horses for Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, was hoping for an allowance race for Crowded Trade. Brown and Klarman already have a Derby prospect in Withers Stakes winner Risk Taking.

Harold Wyner trains Capo Kane, and Doug O’Neill trains Wipe the Slate. They are still holding out hope their horse could make the Derby. Capo Kane won the Jerome, a one-turn mile race here on New Year’s Day, before finishing third in the Withers, a 1 1/8-mile, two-turn race on Feb. 6.

Wyner felt Capo Kane missed enough training between those two races to perhaps be a bit short for the Withers. Wyner has been training Capo Kane to sit behind horses, which he hopes is something he might see on Saturday.

Last fall at Del Mar, Wipe the Slate finished second to Life Is Good, who has morphed into Southern California’s top 3-year-old prospect. Wipe the Slate, a son of Nyquist, came back to win a maiden race before running last after chasing the pace in the Robert Lewis.

O’Neill is removing blinkers from Wipe the Slate’s equipment in an effort to get him to relax. Kendrick Carmouche rides from post 4.

The remaining three horses in the Gotham are all coming out of a maiden win. Some, if not all, were pointing to an allowance that was not used on Saturday’s card.

Weyburn, a son of Pioneerof the Nile trained by Jimmy Jerkens, was a front-running winner in the slop on Dec. 5. He then missed the Jerome due to illness and the Jimmy Winkfield due to a foot bruise.

The Reds, a son of Tonalist trained by John Kimmel, won a slowly run 1 1/8-mile maiden race on Jan. 31. He finished fourth behind Highly Motivated in a Sept. 27 maiden race at Belmont.

Atlantic Road, a son of Quality Road trained by Todd Pletcher, is coming out of a front-running maiden score going seven furlongs on Feb. 8.

The Gotham goes as race 9 on a 10-race card that begins at 12:50 p.m. and includes three other stakes – the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap for older sprinters, the $250,000 Busher Invitational for 3-year-old fillies, and the $125,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational for older females.

Conditions are expected to be dry but temperatures are only forecast to be in the upper 30s.