Reggae Music Man can lively up tote board in Say Florida Sandy
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Bankit, My Boy Tate, and Wudda U Think Now have been pretty dominant in the one-turn stakes for New York-breds run on this circuit over the last few years.
While it is logical to believe one of those three will win Sunday’s $100,000 Say Florida Sandy Stakes at Aqueduct, there is a relative newcomer to the group who could surprise at a square price in this five-horse field.
Reggae Music Man, who to date has impressed more in the mornings than the afternoons, steps back into stakes company for the first time since trainer Pat Reynolds removed the blinkers from his equipment. Reynolds sees improvement in the gelding since the equipment change.
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“He’s settled a little bit, he’s matured. We took the blinkers off and that’s helped,” Reynolds said. “You don’t want to be too far back, but we don’t need to blast off either.”
In his last start, an open first-level allowance here Nov. 26, Reggae Music Man came from a stalking position to get the victory by a neck. He was ridden by apprentice Jose Gomez, who has been aboard for three of this gelding’s four victories. While Gomez doesn’t get the weight allowance in this race because it’s a stakes, Reynolds has opted to keep him on in this spot. Gomez also rode him to a second-place finish behind Wudda U Think Now in the John Morrissey Stakes last summer at Saratoga.
“Jose gets along with him really well,” Reynolds said.
Since Reggae Music Man is the only member of this field not to have won a stakes, he gets in with 118 pounds, a six-pound concession from the other four horses in the field.
Bankit is coming off a decisive 3 1/4-length victory in the Thunder Rumble division of the New York Stallion Series here Dec. 4. In his last six stakes starts against restricted company in New York, Bankit has four wins and two seconds.
My Boy Tate, a 9-year-old gelding, will be running in the Say Florida Sandy for the fifth time. He won it in 2018 and was disqualified from victory last year for interference. He was sharp in winning the Hudson Stakes here Oct. 30, but finished a disappointing third as the 7-5 favorite behind Bankit in the Thunder Rumble without any major excuse.
“Maybe the pace was a factor, the [muddy] track. I really don’t have a major excuse,” trainer, breeder, and part-owner Michelle Nevin said. “It seemed like he ran his race, just wasn’t good enough on that day.”
My Boy Tate will break from the rail under Kendrick Carmouche.
Wudda U Think Now, trained by Rudy Rodriguez, has done some of his best work in the winter at Aqueduct. Last February, he won the Hollie Hughes Stakes by 4 1/4 lengths over My Boy Tate. Last month, he won the Alex M. Robb by 3 1/4 lengths. He figures to be a pace factor breaking from post 3 under Dylan Davis.
Market Alert, who won the Saginaw Stakes at Belmont in July, is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Alex M. Robb last out.
The Say Florida Sandy goes as race 8 on a nine-race card that begins at 12:20 p.m.
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