Three Technique may be at best form

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A trio of allowance races, two on dirt and one on turf, highlight a solid 10-race Thursday card at Aqueduct.

Race 7 is a second-level allowance event for 3-year-olds and up going a mile and is topped by the 3-year-olds Three Technique and Americanus. Those two were second and third, respectively, behind a game Money Moves in this same condition and at the same distance at Belmont Park on Oct. 23.

In that race, Three Technique looked like a winner in midstretch as he rallied four wide past Americanus and Money Moves. After Three Technique put a head in front of Money Moves in deep stretch, that rival came back on again and beat Three Technique by a head. It was four lengths back to Americanus.

Trainer Jeremiah Englehart said he was originally planning to stop on Three Technique to plot out a 4-year-old campaign, but the horse came out of his last race too well to do that.

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“Because he’s doing so well and he ran well last time, you’d hate to stop on him,” Englehart said. “This is probably the best he’s trained and looked, so I’m hoping he can follow this up with a good race on Thursday.”

In that Oct. 23 race, Americanus was making his first start since he finished third behind Dr Post in the Unbridled Stakes at Gulfstream in April. Last fall, Americanus finished eighth of nine in the Grade 3 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct.

High Velocity is another 3-year-old to consider in this field. He is winless in two starts for Kelly Breen after twice running third in graded stakes last winter for Bob Baffert. Breen is removing blinkers from High Velocity in hopes of getting a better performance.

Race 4 is a second-level allowance for fillies and mares going seven furlongs on the dirt. Flashndynamite ships in from the Mid-Atlantic region for trainer Michael Moore. Flashndynamite won her first four starts of 2020, all at Parx, before finishing second a similar condition as this at Parx on Nov. 2. In that two-turn mile race, Flashndynamite chased the winner Portal Creek all the way around the track but could never pass her.

Flashndynamite has twice raced at Aqueduct, finishing third in the Belle Gallantey Stakes for claimers in 2019 and third in an allowance to Mrs. Orb, who has since become a stakes winner.

The key to Flashndynamite’s success Thursday could be her ability to rate, because there appears to be ample speed with Our Circle of Love and Gone Glimmering in the field. Ujjayi, who won the Ruthless Stakes here in 2019, drops out of two listed stakes and should catch a fast track for the first time since the summer.

Race 9 is a first-level allowance scheduled for six furlongs on the outer turf course. Duress, trained by Tom Albertrani, has finished second in three of four starts in this condition, including once to stablemate Fiya, who has won four in a row including the Maryland Million Turf Sprint.

Duress would benefit from a contested pace, which he could get with Noble Emotion, Ahead of Plan, and Nothing Better in the field.

Lynchburg, second in the Punch Line Stakes restricted to Virginia-breds at Laurel on Oct. 9, also looks like one that would benefit from a strong pace.