Thursday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Whistler’s Style stretches back out to better distance

Aqueduct | Race 2 | Post Time 1:18 p.m. (ET)

Freudian (#2) is probably the horse to beat as she drops back down to a starter allowance after putting forth a respectable effort against tougher N1X allowance foes last time. The 9-furlong distance of that race may have been a little far for her, and now she returns to the one-mile trip over which she won last time at a similar level. Yet this starter allowance came up slightly tougher than that November affair, so she will have to bring her best effort to win. There also isn’t much speed in this race, and she’s not a horse who figures to be vying for the lead from this inside post.

Run Devil (#4) should have better tactical position, especially with an aggressive rider like Ruben Silvera aboard again. He tried to hustle her forward last time, but she could never make the front and just chased winner Sister Linda around the track. She does appear to be steadily improving for Rudy Rodriguez, but she was no match for Freudian two back and this is a step up in class.

My top pick is Whistler’s Style (#7). She’s another who can lack some early speed on occasion, but she figures to have more opportunity to get forward from this outside post position. She was pretty aggressive when she last contested this distance at Penn National in early December. She went wide into the clubhouse turn and then tugged her rider forward down the backstretch, making an early move to the lead and holding on late. She then moved up to try a tougher spot at Laurel last time while cutting back in distance. Six furlongs is just too short for her, and she was outrun early before making decent late progress though the stretch. She was hardly disgraced losing to 8-time winner My Flicker and the heavily favored Mystic Seaport, who was in great form heading into that spot. Now Whistler’s Style stretches back out to the right distance and is one of the few in her actually getting class relief.