Saturday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Lafitte’s Fleet finds softer allowance field
Aqueduct | Race 4 | Post Time 1:20 p.m. (ET)
TimeformUS PPs are now available on drf.com. Go to shop.drf.com and use coupon code NYRATF23 to get one free TimeformUS card.
This is hardly the toughest N1X allowance event, as evidenced by the fact that Forced Ranking (#3) figures to be a short-priced favorite coming off victories against conditioned claiming and starter-allowance foes. He obviously turned out to possess far more upside than his connections projected when they offered him for $25k off the long layoff at Saratoga. It was encouraging to see him follow up that performance with an improved effort last time, but now he’s moving up again. It’s fair to say this isn’t the strongest N1X race you’ll see on the NYRA circuit, but he still has some things to prove at what figures to be a short price.
Let It Ride (#5) ran exceptionally well in his debut race at Gulfstream in March. He was contesting an honest pace and fought on gamely to finish in a photo with subsequent stakes winner Scotland. He followed that up with an easy maiden score at Aqueduct before going to the sidelines. He’s now returning in a suitable spot, and George Weaver has decent statistics off layoffs on dirt. He just might have to deal with some other speed to his inside.
My top pick is Lafitte’s Fleet (#4). This horse got into great form in early summer, winning a tough $40k claiming event before closing well for third behind the swift sprinter Durante in August. His last couple of results at this level have been disappointing, but he hasn’t encountered ideal situations on either occasion. He was never in position to make up ground two back at Saratoga on a day when speed fared well. Then last time, he again got too far back, and found himself in an awkward position trying to rally through traffic over a sloppy track. Now Rudy Rodriguez puts the blinkers back on, which figures to make him more focused. He had shown the ability to race more forwardly with blinkers last winter, and I think we could see him return to that style here. His best recent TimeformUS Speed Figures of 108 and 109 are the top numbers in this field.