Thursday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Good As He Gets ready for bettersecond off the layoff
Aqueduct | Race 8 | Post Time 4:38 p.m. (ET)
The key to this race is Sturdy (#7), who returns from a layoff after showing sometalent as a younger horse. This George Weaver trainee kept very good companyearly in his career, chasing home future graded stakes winner Domestic Product andLocked, as well as stakes winners Batten Down and Drum Roll Please. He didn’t evenrun that badly when they took a shot in the Tampa Bay Derby in his last start, sincehe was outrun early and very wide in a race that featured a slow pace. Now he’sreturning as a new gelding setting his sights on a more realistic spot. He’s the besthorse in this race based on form, but he does have to cut back in distance and hislack of speed is a mild concern.
A wild card in this field is the returning Magic Michael (#2), who showed abilityearly in his career for the Tony Dutrow barn. He’s just had trouble staying on theracetrack, needing lengthy layoffs on both sides of his most recent start. Now he’sswitching into the stable of Amelia Green for his latest return, but he’s drawn in atough inside post position for a horse with speed.
Badge of War (#1A) would be tough to handle if able to repeat his 109 TimeformUSSpeed Figure from his last start. That’s just a tough number to take at face valuesince he suddenly improved in the 11th start of his career. He’s the stronger half ofthis entry, but I didn’t want to take a short price on him.
I’m going in a different direction with Good as He Gets (#6), making his secondstart off the claim for Rudy Rodriguez. This gelding ran better than it appears in hisfinal start for the Ned Allard barn in November, as he lost position at the quarterpole, and then was running on again late despite getting ridden conservatively. Hemoved up to this level off the claim for Rudy and put in a good effort to close fromlast into second in a speed-dominated race over a track that was favoring the insidepath. I prefer him going longer, and I’m expecting him to deliver a career-best effortin his second start for this barn. He has a recency advantage on his main rival and isstill relatively unexposed as a dirt router.