Rotknee faces pace pressure in Say Florida Sandy

The only four times Rotknee has competed in a New York-bred stakes, he won. That’s a trend trainer Mike Maker hopes continues Sunday when Rotknee returns to statebred stakes company in the $100,000 Say Florida Sandy at Aqueduct.

Rotknee, a son of Runhappy, won the Damon Runyon at 2, the Mike Lee and Ontario County at 3, and the Hudson Stakes at 4. Rotknee has made his last two starts in open company, finishing third behind Bold Journey in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight and second to that same rival in the Gravesend Stakes.

Rotknee’s speed is his best weapon and Maker hopes Jose Lezcano is going to use it on Sunday.

The Say Florida Sandy is run at seven furlongs, a distance at which Rotknee is 2 for 2 but one he has not run at since winning the Mike Lee at Belmont Park in May 2022.

When asked if he prefers Rotknee at shorter than seven furlongs, Maker said, “I prefer him loose on the lead. Seven-eighths, he’s a little bit headstrong. If you try to settle him back, which we tried in the past, that was unsuccessful. Maybe someone else will say we’re not going to go with him because it will hurt us.”

The Say Florida Sandy looks loaded with speed. Aggregation has shown speed in the three starts he’s made since trainer Chad Brown added blinkers to his equipment. Aggregation is 2 for 3 with blinkers and is coming off a second-place finish behind his Brown-trained stablemate Dr Ardito in the one-mile Alex M. Robb.

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Amazingly, Aggregation drew the rail for the eighth time in 10 starts.

Andiamo a Firenze and Disarmed add more pace to the race. Andiamo a Firenze is going first off the claim for trainer David Duggan, who along with Race Point Stables, took him for $62,500 last out. Andiamo a Firenze is a previous New York-bred stakes winner.

Disarmed has shown improvement since Rudy Rodriguez returned him to dirt for his last three starts.

Ocean’s Reserve and General Banker figure to both benefit from a hot pace. Ocean’s Reserve rallied to finish second behind Disarmed in an open first-level allowance race before stalking a modest pace to clear that allowance condition last out.

General Banker came from off the pace to win an allowance race when he returned from a layoff in October. He is looking to rebound from a fifth-place finish in a second-level allowance on Jan. 18.

The Say Florida Sandy goes as race 4 on a 10-race card that begins at 11:50 a.m.

Rego Park Stakes

Antonio of Venice, winner of the $500,000 Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Series in December, goes for his second straight stakes victory in the rescheduled $100,000 Rego Park for New York-bred 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs..

Originally scheduled for Jan. 21, the race had to be rescheduled when that card was canceled due to cold temperatures.

The field underwent some alteration as dominant maiden winner Big Prankster did not enter back while recent maiden winners Thirteen Red Flags and Allied Attack are newcomers to the group.

Antonio of Venice won the roughly run Great White Way, coming off the rail and seemingly bumping with another horse at the quarter pole. The race became controversial when Great White Way runner-up Brick Ambush was disqualified from second to last when the stewards felt he bumped with another horse.

In the stretch of the Great White Way, Antonio of Venice was able to get into the clear and run down two horses who were well ahead of him turning for home. And he did it after another horse, Solo’s Fury, made an attempt to savage him.

“They all blame Antonio, but I don’t think Antonio did much,” said Rudy Rodriguez, the trainer and part-owner of Antonio of Venice. “I think everything came from [Solo’s Fury], who tried to bite my horse and everything was a mess. But he was able to put in a nice finish and we were encouraged to see that.”

Antonio of Venice went from post 2 to post 3 on the re-draw of this race.

Mischief Joke is 1 for 9 with five runner-up finishes for Maker. Mischief Joke twice competed against Antonio of Venice in maiden races earlier last year, the pair exchanging second- and third-place finishes in the summer.

Mischief Joke is coming out of a runner-up finish in a first-level allowance where he was beaten three-quarters of a length by Elysian Meadows while finishing three lengths clear of Always a Warrior.

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Always a Warrior won his debut last July at Saratoga, but has dropped four straight. He did benefit from the re-draw going from the rail to post 5.

Detective Tom finished fourth in that same allowance and is back in this spot.

Allied Attack won a maiden race on Jan. 18 and is being wheeled back in 10 days.

Thirteen Red Flags, trained by Amira Chichakly, won a maiden race by 2 1/4 lengths on Jan. 6 and now has three weeks between starts.

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