Shared Sense holds slight edge in competitive Discovery Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Shared Sense is the most accomplished of the five 3-year-olds entered in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Discovery Stakes, but four of the five have run races good enough to win this 1 1/8-mile dirt stakes at Aqueduct.

Shared Sense, a son of Street Sense trained by Brad Cox for Godolphin Racing, has won the Oklahoma and Indiana derbies – both Grade 3 events – in his last three starts.

Sandwiched in between those wins was a fifth-place finish to Art Collector in the Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 9. Breaking from the outside in the 12-horse field, jockey Florent Geroux opted to take the horse back to last in order to save ground. He had too much to do in the stretch and never really made an impact, finishing 10 3/4 lengths back.

“I don’t know if different tactics would have changed the outcome,” Cox said.

In the Oklahoma Derby, Shared Sense raced a closer fifth, in between horses, tipped five wide in the lane and edged away in what looked to be his best performance to date.

:: Want to get your Past Performances for free? Click to learn more.

“His last race was really good,” Cox said. “He sat close enough to a moderate, maybe even slow pace, and was able to get in position and kick on.”

Jose Lezcano rides Shared Sense from the rail. As a multiple graded stakes winner, he carries 124 pounds, spotting four to six pounds to the field.

Though Monday Morning Qb is a son of Grade 1-winning turf horse Imagining, he’s found his success in route races on dirt. He is coming off a solid 3 1/4-length victory against older Maryland-breds in the Maryland Million Classic going the Discovery distance. Three starts back, off a seven-month layoff, Monday Morning Qb finished second to Happy Saver in the Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel. Happy Saver came back to win the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup to complete a 4-for-4 campaign.

“The real race that was a sign that he went to a new level was the race against Happy Saver in the Federico Tesio,” trainer Butch Reid said. “Off the seven-month layoff to go a mile and an eighth and hang in there against a pretty tough horse I thought was a good one.”

Dylan Davis rides Monday Morning Qb from post 2.

Forza Di Oro, a son of Speightstown, came off a 10-month layoff to win a first-level allowance going 1 1/16 miles at Belmont on Oct. 9. Mischief Afoot, seventh in that race, and Dudley Square, fourth, came back to finish first and second, a head apart, in the same condition here on Nov. 12.

Junior Alvarado rides Forza Di Oro from post 3.

Attachment Rate, third in the Grade 3 Gotham in March, ships back from Kentucky off a dominant 6 1/2-length victory in a first-level allowance race on Oct. 29.

Ralston, a front-running winner of an optional-claiming race at Gulfstream Park West on Nov. 5, was entered by trainer Carlos David, who has won seven races from 23 starters at Gulfstream Park West this month.

With only a five-horse field, the Discovery is carded as race 3.