Secret Rules better with the lead

It’s no secret that Secret Rules has raced competitively against better horses than he meets in the featured seventh race Sunday at Aqueduct.

Neither is his major flaw a secret: Secret Rules shows no great fondness for passing other horses.

Secret Rules’s career mark stands at a revealing 11-2-6-2, and those two wins came in wire-to-wire fashion. Is Secret Rules, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Bill Mott, quick enough to make the lead breaking from the outside gate in an eight-horse field? Probably not.

The Sunday feature (post time 3:57 p.m. Eastern) has a basic second-level allowance condition, is open to $62,500 claimers, and is carded for six furlongs. The field splits down the middle, four and four, between horses entered under the allowance condition and for the claiming tag.

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Several of the horses in for the tag have proven very popular at the claiming box. Prince James has been claimed three times in a row, new trainer Rob Atras taking him for $25,000 on Jan. 20 and giving Prince James a major class hike, at least superficially. Prince James won a nonwinners-of-three race last out by more than 11 lengths, earning a career-best 94 Beyer. A sloppy track surely enhanced the performance, and Prince James’s baseline level is nowhere near that high, but keep in mind that Atras over the last two years has 20 wins from 60 runners off the claim in dirt sprints.

Peruvian Boy, who looked early in his career like he might become a stakes horse, also has been claimed three times in row. His new trainer, George Weaver, cuts him back from one mile to six furlongs.

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South Sea has been claimed twice in a row, including a claim in his last start Jan. 22 for $16,000. Michael Miceli trained South Sea in that race, which South Sea won by 9 1/2 lengths with a career-best 91 Beyer, and since Miceli still trains the horse and the claim wasn’t voided, South Sea was privately purchased between starts.

Fast Getaway, who primarily has been a turf horse, and Amundson look like potential front-end foils for Secret Rules, though if a win-shy horse ever is going to decide to try a little bit harder, a clear trip pressing or stalking on the outside is the way to go.

Secret Rules, during his form cycle through the winter of 2020-21, finished second to Pete’s Play Call, who came back to win the Gravesend Stakes; finished second to Chateau, who came back to win the Tom Fool Stakes; and finished third just behind Wicked Trick, who two starts later was second in the Westchester. Unraced for seven months, Secret Rules returned Jan. 16 with a distant second behind Wudda You Think Now, who came right back to win the Hollie Hughes with a 104 Beyer. The gelding’s work pattern since the comeback race looks strong, yet Repo Rocks is this race’s most likely winner.

Juan Vazquez, whose raft of suspensions has nearly gotten him banned from NYRA participation, trains Repo Rocks. Ethical considerations aside, the horse is in the right spot. Repo Rocks comes off second-place stakes finishes at Aqueduct and Parx Racing and, unlike Secret Rules, he willingly passes horses. The race flow should play out favorably, and Repo Rocks has handled a variety of track surfaces.

There you go: Rock over Rules.