Tax might await Wood Memorial after winning Withers

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The top four finishers from Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes likely all will be pointed to another graded stakes race offering qualifying points to the May 4 Kentucky Derby, their connections said Sunday morning.

In the Withers, Tax squeezed through on the rail under Junior Alvarado to prevail by a head over Not That Brady, with Our Braintrust another neck back in third. It was 4 3/4 lengths farther back to Sir Winston in fourth.

Tax earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 96 for his victory, a number that has trainer Danny Gargan rethinking his initial plan of running the horse back in five weeks in the $200,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park on March 9. Now, Gargan said he may wait for the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 6.

“He ran such a big number, there’s a big chance I just wait for the Wood,” Gargan said Sunday morning. “He ran good off the [nine] weeks. He likes the track, obviously.”

Tax finished a respectable third in the Grade 2 Remsen on Dec. 1 after being claimed for $50,000 by Gargan out of a winning effort at Keeneland on Oct. 21. Tax has run three consecutive races around two turns, and Gargan wants to keep him in those types of races. The Jeff Ruby is 1 1/8 miles around two turns over Turfway’s synthetic surface.

Gargan said Tax would get four days off before returning to the track on Thursday.

“He looks great,” Gargan said. “He’s back there standing as happy as can be.”

Gargan was happy to see Tax run as well as he did despite stumbling at the start and racing in tight quarters along the inside.

“I love seeing him be able to do that,” Gargan said.

Not That Brady, based at Aqueduct with trainer Rudy Rodriguez, came out of the Withers with a cut on a hind leg, “but little minor stuff, not too bad,” Rodriguez said. “He walked good this morning.”

Not That Brady, ridden by Reylu Gutierrez, set a solid pace in the Withers – the half-mile went in 47.39 seconds, and six furlongs went in 1:11.44 – and battled gamely when Our Braintrust, ridden by Jose Lezcano, came to him on the outside. Those two then bumped and opened up the rail for Tax.

Not That Brady may point to the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes, a one-turn-mile race here on March 9, Rodriguez said. Not That Brady won two one-turn-mile races that were restricted to New York-breds here as a 2-year-old.

“We’re going to try and run him here in New York,” Rodriguez said. “He looked like he run a very good race at a mile; he’s training over here. I was impressed the way he fought back [Saturday]. Everything was positive from him, and hopefully we keep improving.”

Due to the bumping in the stretch, Mark Casse, the trainer of Our Braintrust who watched the race from South Florida, lodged an objection through his assistant Jamie Begg. The stewards dismissed the claim.

“It was the first time in 40 years I claimed foul,” Casse said. “[Jockey Jose Lezcano] said he should have claimed foul. He did get bothered.”

Overall, Casse said he was pleased with the effort and plans to point Our Braintrust to the $1 million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 16.

Sir Winston, who won the Display Stakes on synthetic at Woodbine in December, was making his first start on dirt since his debut last spring. Casse said jockey Dylan Davis told him Sir Winston wasn’t handling the dirt very well early on.

Casse said he would point Sir Winston to the Grade 2, $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby on March 9.

“Personally, I think both horses established themselves as contenders. I don’t think they’re pretenders,” Casse said. “Jamie said they were far from exhausted after the race. We’ll march forward and aim to the first Saturday in May.”