Seethisquick back quick in allowance feature

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Two of the more intriguing storylines of the Aqueduct winter season clash in the waning days of the spring meet when Seethisquick and Reed Kan square off in Thursday’s second-level allowance/optional $62,500 claiming feature at Aqueduct.

Seethisquick, after losing his first 15 starts, has won three consecutive races, all for owner-trainer Darmindra Dharamjit. Reed Kan has gone 2 for 3, all for owner-trainer Mertkan Kantarmaci, and has won five of his last seven starts overall.

Dharamjit, 50, said he trained horses in Guyana before coming to the U.S. 30 years ago. Since coming here, he has owned horses while operating a construction business. Most recently, his horses were trained by Joe Parker. Dharamjit decided to train his own horses this winter, and from 10 starts he has a record of 3-2-3.

The three wins have all been supplied by Seethisquick, who won a maiden $40,000 claimer by 9 1/4 lengths on Feb. 21, a $40,000 claimer for non-winners of two by 3 3/4 lengths on March 2, and a first-level allowance race at odds of 17-1 on April 7.

Going into that last race, Dharamjit said: “I was a little bit scared, but I knew he was doing really good. The race was looking pretty tough, but I tell the jockey just send him out of the gate and let him go.”

That jockey was the 10-pound apprentice Heman Harkie, who will be aboard Thursday.

“He’s going to go again,” Dharamjit said.

Though Seethisquick is coming back in 11 days, Dharamjit said: “He loves that. That last race did nothing to him.”

Dharamjit has four horses including Coolboy, whom he claimed on Saturday for $25,000.

Kantarmaci, a native of Turkey, came to New York full time last fall from Parx. During the Aqueduct winter meet he won 11 races from 36 starters with 4 seconds and 7 thirds. He won the $18,000 top prize in NYRA’s Under-20 Claiming Challenge, a program restricted to those trainers whose stable numbers 20 horses or fewer.

Kantarmaci claimed Reed Kan for $25,000 from Jason Servis on Oct. 28, and he won a $40,000 claiming race and a starter allowance with him. In between, he finished fourth in this condition. In that race, Kantarmaci believes he may have run the horse back too soon after a career-best effort on Dec. 13.

While Kantarmaci believes Reed Kan can be competitive in this spot, he is concerned about the 6 1/2-furlong distance.

“I think he’s best at six furlongs,” Kantarmaci said. “But quality’s quality.”

Long Haul Bay, who has won a race at Aqueduct in the last two spring meets, makes his 5-year-old debut in this spot. He is trained by Chad Brown.

Runaway Lute has dropped four straight since winning the Hudson Stakes last October. Bon Raison is coming off a victory in the Peeping Tom, a starter stakes on the March 30 New York Claiming Championships cards.

River Echo, winless in his last 13 starts, completes the field.