Straight Arrow looks tough on turf or dirt

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With another soggy weekend forecast in the offing, the New York Racing Association postponed two turf stakes scheduled for Sunday, leaving a pair of New York-bred allowance races – oddly one scheduled for turf – as the co-features on a nine-race program.

The $125,000 Glen Cove and Grade 3, $150,000 Knickerbocker stakes scheduled for Sunday were not carded for that day and have been rescheduled for Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Sunday’s seventh race is a second-level allowance/optional claimer scheduled for one mile on turf that will most likely be run at one mile on dirt.

Straight Arrow looks to be a factor, regardless of surface. Though his record is better on dirt, Straight Arrow’s one turf race resulted in a troubled trip when he had to steady behind a wall of horses at the eighth pole when finishing fifth behind four of the horses he would be meeting Sunday should the race stay on turf.

“[Joel] Rosario could never get him out,” trainer Michael Dini said. “He got shut off twice.”

Straight Arrow is a half-brother to Disco Partner, a multiple graded stakes winner on turf who made more than $1 million. Prior to that turf race, Straight Arrow had two wins and a second in his three preceding dirt tries, the runner-up finish coming behind the stakes winner Amundson, who was winning for the 11th time in 30 starts. Two horses came out of that Aug. 23 race to win their next starts, albeit one in a $25,000 claimer at Thistledown.'

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There are four main-track-only entrants in this field, including Cut the Cord, who, on Sept. 21, was beaten a head in a starter allowance by Lookin at Roses, who came back to win an allowance/optional claimer at Parx Racing.

Shadow Dragon, the Grade 3 Holy Bull runner-up in February, is coming out of a runner-up finish in this condition Oct. 4.

On turf, the field includes Ocala Dream, Agent Creed, Let’s Go Big Blue, and King of Comedy, the four who finished in front of Straight Arrow here Sept. 15. Born Dancer and Itsallcomintogetha would likely provide pace on turf.

Race 8, scheduled for six furlongs on dirt, features the return to the races of General Banker, whose lone win from 14 starts came in the $500,000 Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Stakes last December. He won that race by 8 1/2 lengths over a muddy track, the kind of surface he may get Sunday.

General Banker has not run since finishing sixth in this condition on May 14, and his trainer, Jimmy Ferraro, is only 1 for 17 the last five years bringing horses back off a layoff greater than 180 days.

Ten Cent Town, a three-time winner, goes first off the $32,000 claim for trainer Gary Sciacca. Last fall/winter, Windylea Farm enjoyed success at Aqueduct with horses shipping in from Finger Lakes, as is the case with Trappe the Dream, who breaks from the outside post and has a good record over a wet track. He goes out for trainer Mark Hennig, who won last winter with Windylea’s Finger Lakes shippers Full Moon Fever and Warrior’s Revenge.

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