Thursday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Bustin Shout should benefit from outside draw

Aqueduct | Race 2 | Post Time 1:51 p.m. (ET)

Prince of Pharoahs (#4) may beat this field if he shows up with any one of his better efforts from the past year. He’s primarily faced tougher company during that time and is probably getting logical class relief, since he just seems a little overmatched at the $45K New York-bred optional-claiming level these days. However, it’s doubtful that Linda Rice was thinking about running him for a $25K tag when she acquired him for $45K two starts ago. He needed some time, failed to improve first off the claim in her barn, and now drops, making just his second start in the last four months. He’s also turning back to a sprint, which he has handled in the past, though his recent results going shorter than a mile have been disappointing. He makes sense, but I’m not inclined to settle for a short price on a horse whose form may be declining.

Market Alert (#1) is the most logical alternative as he seeks his third victory in a row while going out for a new barn. He’s running back at the same $25K level at which Rob Falcone claimed him last time. He got the job done after waiting in traffic in upper stretch. This field seems marginally tougher, but he seems to have found a home at this class level and projects to get another good trip from the inside.

Amundson (#6) was defeated by that foe on March 8 and was claimed by Mertkan Kantarmaci, who sends out two runners in this field. He was stepped up in class first off the claim 13 days later, but disappointed, failing to regain his speed while never involved. He now drops back down and might be capable of better in a race that features a murky pace scenario.

My top pick is another runner out of that March 21 race. Bustin Shout (#5) finished well ahead of Amundson despite the fact that he didn’t get the most comfortable trip. Breaking a step slowly, he found himself struggling to maintain position early while not appreciating racing behind foes on the backstretch. He was one-paced despite getting vigorous encouragement on the turn before ultimately kicking in once Gkohan Kocakaya finally steered him into the clear for the stretch drive. He appears to be a horse who does his best running outside of foes these days, and he should be able to work out that kind of trip breaking from an outside draw this time. He has maintained his solid recent form for Wayne Potts and now should appreciate getting back out to seven furlongs.