Aqueduct

Vyjack tackles two-turn question in Queens County

Jim Dunleavy|Dec 11, 2014

Barbara D. Livingston Vyjack has not finished better than sixth in his last four two-turn starts, although they came in top company.

Even though Vyjack has spent almost half his career racing around two turns, we still don’t know how good he is at it, or if he wants to do it at all. On Saturday, we should find out.

Vyjack and Stormin Monarcho, who enters off stakes victories at Penn National and Laurel Park, are the principals in the $100,000 Queens County Stakes at Aqueduct. The 10-horse field also includes Elnaawi, who won a third-level optional-claiming race at Keeneland last out, and a pair from the Todd Pletcher barn, Micromanage and Percussion.

DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No 1A Micromanage. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 11-3-3-1 with a $4.00 ROI over the past five years going turf to dirt in non-graded stakes routes. Click for more details. – Dan Illman

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As a two-time Grade 2 winner, Vyjack is the class of the 1 1/8-mile Queens County. The question is, does he want to go this far, or is he more effective at shorter distances around one turn?

Seven of Vyjack’s 15 starts have come at two turns. He won the Grade 2 Jerome by a head in January 2013 and then took the Grade 3 Gotham by 2 1/4 lengths that March. In his third two-turn try, he finished third, beaten a length by Verrazano, in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial.

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But in his last four starts around two turns, Vyjack has not finished better than sixth. However, those efforts came in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, Haskell, and Suburban. He faces easier competition Saturday.

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“He ran a very good race in the Gotham last year, and that was two turns on the inner track,” trainer Rudy Rodriguez said. “We’re going to give him a little break after the Queens County, but it’ll give us a little better idea whether we should keep him here or send him back to the farm.”

Vyjack’s two best Beyer Speed Figures have come in one-turn races. He earned a 103 in winning the Grade 2 Kelso going a mile at Belmont Park on Sept. 27 and a 97 in winning a fourth-level optional-claiming race at seven furlongs on the Aqueduct main track in April.

Key contenders

Vyjack (Last 3 Beyers: 93-103-93)

◗ He comes back on two weeks’ rest following a fifth-place finish in the Cigar Mile under Irad Ortiz Jr., who will be back aboard Saturday. The track favored speed on Cigar Mile Day, and the race was won wire to wire by Private Zone.

“The way the racetrack was playing, it was kind of hard to win,” Rodriguez said. “We told Irad to keep after Private Zone the whole way around. I guess when you do that, you get the horse out of his rhythm.”

◗ Vyjack was not an original nominee to the Queens County and was supplemented for $1,000.

Stormin Monarcho (Last 3 Beyers: 99-103-97)

◗ He finished well to win the Richard W. Small Stakes at Laurel on Nov. 15 and the Swatara at Penn National on Nov. 29 – both $100,000 races around two turns.

◗ Jockey Jevian Toledo will be aboard for the third straight race. As of Friday morning, Toledo was tied for fourth in the Laurel Park jockey standings with 31 wins.

Elnaawi (Last 3 Beyers: 93-82-99)

◗ His best race fits nicely with this group.

DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Elnaawi. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is 27-8-7-5 with a $2.44 ROI over the past year in routes on the Aqueduct inner dirt. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan

◗ Three of his four wins have come at two turns.

Micromanage (Last 3 Beyers: 49-96-89)

◗ He shortens up from longer races in his last nine starts.

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