Stan the Man returns from long layoff in Queens County

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – To listen to trainer John Terranova tell it, Stan the Man has been ready to run for quite some time, but there wasn’t a suitable race for him. Terranova hopes Saturday’s $125,000 Queens County Stakes at Aqueduct is the right race for the 5-year-old gelding to return from a 197-day layoff.

Stan the Man last raced in the Grade 2 True North at Belmont on June 7, finishing fifth, three lengths behind Catalina Cruiser. It was his seventh race since the previous November, and Terranova felt Stan the Man was in need of a freshening. Given Stan the Man’s success at Aqueduct – four wins and four seconds from 11 starts – Terranova wanted to have him ready for the Big A, which opened in early November.

Though Stan the Man has won from six furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, Terranova likes the longer distances for the progeny of Broken Vow. Terranova was going to use the Fall Highweight Handicap, at six furlongs, as a return but when that race was twice postponed – it was eventually run Dec. 8 – Terranova felt it would have impeded him from making the nine-furlong Queens County.

Stan the Man shows 13 works since September, eight at five furlongs, for his return.

“We’ve got some good works into him and he puts a lot into what he does out there,” Terranova said. “He’s pretty fit from what we can see. I think we’re ready.”

Terranova points to Stan the Man’s second-level allowance win going 1 1/8 miles here Jan. 13 as proof of his prowess around two turns.

“That race came back pretty fast, I think it was a legit race for him,” Terranova said.

Stan the Man, who breaks from post 2 under Dylan Davis, has speed and there seems to be other early speed types in this field, including Major Cabbie, who ships in from Kentucky for Peter Miller, Han Sense, and Roaming Union.

Contenders with an off-the-pace style include Backsideofthemoon and Adventist. Backsideofthemoon was claimed for $62,500 by Rudy Rodriguez in August and was gelded due to having one undescended testicle. He has won two of his last three starts and was claimed out of his most recent victory for $100,000 by Bob Klesaris for owner Charles Hallas.

“Logic tells me the horse is as good as he’s going to get, I don’t have any illusions of grandeur that I’m going to improve him,” Klesaris said. “He’s at his peak right now.”

Adventist, third in the 2016 Wood Memorial here when in the barn of Leah Gyarmati, won the Grade 3 Greenwood Cup at Parx Racing at odds of 50-1 on Oct. 5. Most recently, he finished seventh in the Richard Small Stakes at Laurel.

Han Sense finished second in the Richard Small Stakes first off the claim by Kelly Breen. Bon Raison is making his 21st start of the year. He has won six races, including a high-caliber allowance at Belmont going 1 1/16 miles two starts back.