Pick six carryover adds appeal to Wednesday card

The racing week at Aqueduct begins Wednesday with a $23,352 pick six carryover and Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez zeroing in on his 6,000th career winner.

Velazquez went 5 for 17 at Aqueduct last week to boost his win total to 5,996, which includes one victory in his native Puerto Rico. Three of last week’s wins came for Velazquez’s main client, Todd Pletcher. Velazquez and Pletcher have won 1,747 races together since Velazquez came to the United States in 1990.

Velazquez, 46, has mount earnings of more than $395 million, the highest in history and $78 million more than runner-up Mike Smith. Velazquez has two Wednesday mounts.

The carryover is largely the result of Too Charming’s $47.80 Sunday allowance win for Godolphin and trainer Tom Albertrani. The Wednesday sequence runs from races 3 to 8 and includes three turf races, which will likely be held over a wet course or moved to the main track.

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The forecast calls for close to an inch of rain in the area beginning Monday night and continuing through Tuesday morning.

Race 7 is a second-level New York-bred optional-claiming turf sprint with a full field of 10, plus two also-eligibles and two main-track-only entrants. Colonel Tom could go favored for George Weaver, but is slightly suspect since he is in for the optional claiming price of $40,000 and making his first start in more than nine weeks.

A 3-year-old son of Colonel John, Colonel Tom is 3 for 5 in his career and has already won at this level under the allowance condition. In his last start, he tired to finish fourth in the Allied Forces Stakes behind World of Trouble, who was beaten a neck in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

Further complicating matters is that Discretionary Marq, the first also-eligible, also is in for the claiming tag after winning at this level last time out for the $40,000 price.

Race 6 is a competitive first-level allowance. The 1 1/8-mile race matches Point to Remember, Storm Prophet, and Mr. Buff, who finished second through fourth behind Plainsman at this level Sept. 27. Plainsman came back to win a second-level optional claimer.

Mr. Buff, who went head to head with Plainsman before backing off to finish fourth, could merit a slight edge. He has since finished third in the $314,000 Empire Classic Handicap.

Storm Prophet came out of the Plainsman race to finish second to Sanavi, who has won three of his last four starts.

Race 3, a one-mile maiden race on turf for 2-year-olds, includes the high-priced first-time starters Moretti ($900,000, Todd Pletcher) and Bourbon War ($410,000, Mark Hennig).

Chad Brown has the Irish-bred Demarchelier, a first-time starter by Dubawi, who is owned by Peter Brant. Greyes Creek ($850,000), who is on the also-eligble list for Brown, would be making his first start on turf after being beaten in two dirt races as the favorite.

The field also includes Vineyard Sound, who finished second in his debut to Standard Deviation in an off-the-turf race for trainer Michael Dilger. Standard Deviation has since finished third in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland and last in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Vineyard Sound, in his second start, finished seventh against winners in the Grade 3 Pilgrim.