Tom Fool loaded with front-runners

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The expectation of a lively pace in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap will likely have handicappers gravitating toward Wendell Fong and Pete’s Play Call as the most likely winners of the six-furlong race at Aqueduct.

Wendell Fong, despite stumbling shortly after the start, benefited from a strong pace to win the Fire Plug Stakes on Jan. 16 at Laurel Park. In giving trainer Natalia Lynch her first career victory, Wendell Fong ran down Share the Ride, who has since come back to win the Grade 3 General George at Laurel and who is back in this spot.

Following the Fire Plug, Wendell Fong received about two weeks of turnout time on a central New Jersey farm and upon return has trained forwardly enough for Lynch to believe he’s ready to go in the Tom Fool.

Prior to Wendell Fong’s victory in the Fire Plug, Trevor McCarthy gave Wendell Fong a similar off-the-pace trip in an allowance race last Dec. 3 in which he finished second to Taco Supream, who came back to run second in the Dave’s Friend Stakes with a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure. McCarthy, who is on a 10-for-32 run at Aqueduct, has the call on Saturday.

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“Trevor rode him really good in Maryland,” Lynch said. “I hope he rides him the exact same way and he takes to that surface.”

On Nov. 27, Pete’s Play Call took advantage of a hot early pace to win an optional-claiming race from which he was taken for $62,500 by trainer Rudy Rodriguez and owner Michael Dubb. Pete’s Play Call came back to win the Gravesend in December while pressing a moderate pace. In the Grade 3 Toboggan on Jan. 30, Pete’s Play Call was on the lead in a paceless race and was run down by American Power, losing by a half-length. He did finish nearly three lengths clear of Share the Ride.

Though Pete’s Play Call drew the rail, Rodriguez said he would like to see jockey Jorge Vargas take the horse off the pace and make one run.

“I’m going to tell Vargas don’t chase him out of there, let him break and be patient,” Rodriguez said. “The rail has been very good and it looks like he’s comfortable following horses.”

Despite dealing with a quarter crack since he won the Grade 3 Fall Highweight, Share the Ride has run three times, with a win in the General George in which he attended a moderate pace. He did show the ability to rate in the Fire Plug, when he ran a winning race while just getting beat by Wendell Fong.

Share the Ride is the 124-pound highweight, conceding two to six pounds to the rest of the field.

On Jan. 18, Chateau was a front-running winner of a second-level allowance in which he ran six furlongs in 1:10.44, the third fastest of 135 six-furlong races at the meet.

He will have to deal with the Bob Baffert-trained Speed Pass, who came off a year layoff to run a close third in an allowance race at Santa Anita on Jan. 30.

Happy Farm, another speedster, is coming off a front-running score in a $50,000 claimer for Linda Rice on Feb. 6.