Tax prevails in tight Withers finish

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When trainer Danny Gargan claimed Tax for $50,000 last October, he thought he was getting a horse that would be effective running long on turf.

While that may ultimately be the case, any short-term visits to the grass will have to do only with grazing.

Tax put himself onto the Kentucky Derby trail Saturday, seizing upon an opening along the rail in midstretch under Junior Alvarado to shoot through and outfinish Not That Brady and Our Braintrust to win the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes by a head at Aqueduct. Not That Brady finished second by a neck over Our Braintrust after the two exchanged bumps in the stretch.

It was 4 3/4 lengths back to Sir Winston, who was followed, in order, by Admire, Moretti, and Lucky Lee.

The win earned Tax 10 qualifying points toward the May 4 Kentucky Derby. He has a total of 12 points having finished third in the Grade 2 Remsen here last Dec. 1.

Tax, whose family traces back to 1993 Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero, won the Withers despite a less-than-easy trip.

Breaking from the rail, he stumbled out of the gate. Outsprinted to the lead by Not That Brady, Tax was an up-close third but in tight down the backside. Alvarado, who was riding Tax for the first time, said his horse clipped heels a few times early in the race.

Down the backside, Tax was still in tight along the rail – with Moretti to his outside – as Not That Brady had a one-length lead over Our Braintrust through a half-mile in 47.39 seconds and six furlongs in 1:11.44.

Approaching the top of the lane, Alvarado said he saw Jose Lezcano trying to motivate Our Braintrust. Alvarado thought it was only a matter of time before he would be able to get Tax off the rail and outside of Not That Brady for the stretch drive. But Our Braintrust re-engaged, and Alvarado was still stuck on the rail.

At the three-sixteenths pole, jockey Reylu Gutierrez hit Not That Brady left-handed as he wanted him to see Our Braintrust to his outside. That created an opening along the rail that Tax went through.

While Not That Brady and Our Braintrust exchanged a few bumps, Tax slipped through and continued on to get the victory.

“I saw Reylu switch his stick, I got very lucky his horse bore out when he hit him with the left hand,” Alvarado said. “Good thing my horse was very game. He never hesitated. As soon as I asked him to go in there, he fired up really quick. He got a little late on me at the end, but he still ran a huge race.”

Tax owned by Corms Racing, Hugh Lynch, Randy Hill, and Dean Reeves, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.23 and returned $6.20 as the 2-1 favorite.

For Hill, the victory was doubly sweet. Hill was the previous owner of Not That Brady but lost him at the claim box for $50,000 in his first start. Following Tax’s third-place finish in the Remsen, Hill purchased a quarter interest in the horse as did Dean Reeves.

“I said to Danny, 'If you don’t beat that horse today I’m leaving your barn,'” Hill said kiddingly.

Hill also owns Vekoma, who won the Grade 3 Nashua here last November and who is pointing to the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream on March 2.

Gargan said he was “really proud” of the race Tax ran on Saturday.

“Just to overcome the things he did, to just keep grinding down on the inside, a lot of horses don’t want to be there,” Gargan said. “I thought maybe, personally, he was better on the outside which he still might be, but he still overcame the inside.”

Gargan said he wants to keep Tax running long and he said he would likely run him in the Jeff Ruby Steaks over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface on March 9.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez blamed himself for Not That Brady getting beat.

“The last sixteenth of a mile I came out to get Jose Lezcano [on Our Braintrust] and ride him,” Gutierrez said. “Lo and behold, Junior Alvarado is behind me waiting and I opened up the rail. That’s not on Brady, that’s not on the [Rudy] Rodriguez team, and I take all the blame for this loss.”