Pao Alto gets a run in Knickerbocker before shipping south
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Pao Alto’s runner-up finish in the Baltimore-Washington Turf Cup last month gave trainer Graham Motion an indication this new addition to his stable may be a useful horse for him in the future.
Rather than wait until he ships to South Florida later this fall to run him, Pao Alto’s immediate future is Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Knickerbocker Stakes going 1 1/8 miles over Aqueduct’s turf course.
Pao Alto, a 5-year-old French-bred gelding, was a Group 2 winner at Qatar this winter for trainer Christophe Ferland. After respectable runs in a pair of group races in France, brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, the owners of Pao Alto, moved the horse to Motion. In the Baltimore-Washington Turf Cup, Pao Alto made a three-wide move to the lead in upper stretch but was outfinished by favored Set Piece and finished second, beaten 1 1/2 lengths.
“I thought he ran a super race last time. I thought Jevian [Toledo] gave him a great ride, he just got outrun,” Motion said. “It was his first time in America, he hadn’t run in a while. He’s got some pretty good form from France. I was running out of options. It was either run now or wait until we got to Florida.
“I worry a little bit about wheeling him back in a month, but he’s done well. He’s a cool horse to be around and he’s doing better now than when we he first started,” Motion added.
Trainer Chad Brown, who has won the last two runnings of this race, will send out the uncoupled trio of L’Imperator, Lonesome Fugitive, and Public Sector.
L’Imperator is turning back to nine furlongs after winning the 1 1/2-mile Presious Passion Stakes on Sept. 10 at Monmouth Park.
“He did win going a mile and an eighth earlier in the year,” Brown said, referring to the Fort Marcy, which was run over a boggy turf course. “Just trying to find spots for this horse. He’s put together a decent season here and he seems to like soft turf.”
Lonesome Fugitive is coming off an allowance win at Monmouth Park and will make his stakes debut in this spot for Brown and owners/breeders John Gunther and Eurowest Bloodstock.
Public Sector, who won three graded stakes at age 3, is 0 for 5 this year with a trio of third-place finishes in graded races. He is stuck in post 10.
“He’s just been unlucky all year,” Brown said. “He didn’t get started the way I wanted. I mismanaged him a bit and here he is parked outside. He does have a win on yielding turf.”
Pixelate, a five-time stakes winner, is trying to regain his top form. He has only run twice this year, most recently finishing sixth in the Mint Million at Kentucky Downs. He gets to stretch out to 1 1/8 miles and did win a stakes at Aqueduct when he was a 2-year-old.
Trainer Mike Maker sends out the uncoupled pair of King Cause, an allowance winner at Aqueduct 11 months ago, and Field Pass, who won the Grade 2 Seabiscuit at Del Mar last November.
Safe Conduct, the 2021 Queen’s Plate winner, and stakes winners Eons and Dynadrive round out the competitive field.
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