Spiked should be tighter, could sit nice trip in allowance

Though Spiked may have had more success in races run around two turns, her races at a one-turn mile have produced two of her three top Beyer Speed Figures.

After returning from a 10-month layoff to finish a respectable third in the Heavenly Prize Stakes going a mile on Feb. 10 at Aqueduct, Spiked drops into a second-level allowance going a mile in what serves as the feature on Aqueduct’s eight-race card.

Spiked went to the sidelines after a first-level allowance win in April going 1 1/8 miles. Two starts earlier, she had been disqualified from that same condition going 1 1/8 miles.

“She was going through some physical stuff, so instead of pushing her we kicked her out for a few months,” trainer John Terranova said.

Spiked was entered in a one-mile allowance on Jan. 21, one of two cards that got canceled this winter due to weather. The next opportunity to run was the Heavenly Prize.

“That’s what came up. She was ready to run. We figured let’s take a shot and see if we can get some black type,” Terranova said. “I thought that race was a good comeback race. It tightened her up a little bit.”

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Terranova said the pace in two-turn races is a bit easier on Spiked, but the 4-year-old filly looks like she could get a nice stalking trip on Thursday with the likes of Coppa Girl, Crypto Mama, and Give Me Kisses in the field.

Tough Street finished a solid second in this open condition first time off a 113-day layoff. She has come up short the last three times she was sent off the favorite. Towhead was declared a non-starter when she reared at the start of her last race, which was her first run since she finished seventh in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan last May.

Bustin Bay, third in the same race in which Tough Street was second on Feb. 19, seeks her 12th career victory.

Four cited for whip violations

Four jockeys at Aqueduct received fines and one-day suspensions for violations of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority’s rules on use of the whip.

Jose Lezcano was fined $825 and suspended one day (Thursday) for hitting Kinetic Sky seven times, one over the limit, in his nose victory in the $150,000 Stymie Stakes on March 2. The fine represents 10 percent of Lezcano’s earnings for that race.

Samuel Camacho Jr. also will sit out Thursday after being sanctioned for hitting Bourbons Hope eight times in a race March 3. He was fined $250.

Ruben Silvera was fined $425 and is suspended for March 21 for striking Disarmed seven times in his second-level allowance win on March 3.

Jose Gomez was fined $250 and is suspended March 22 for hitting Notah seven times in a second-place finish on March 9.

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