Weathered sharp for stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - When trainer Karl Grusmark wheeled Weathered back in 12 days for last month's You'd Be Surprised Stakes, he did so with the idea of giving the filly a break afterward.

But Weathered came out of that race so well that Grusmark has decided to keep her going. With two options before him, Grusmark opted for Friday's $65,000 Plankton Stakes at a mile over Aqueduct's inner track rather than the $65,000 Affectionately at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 18.

"I was going to wait for the race on the 18th, but she's doing really well now, we'll race in here and skip the [Affectionately]," Grusmark said Wednesday. "She just came out of that last race really sharp; we're real happy with her. I think she's going into this race in really good shape."

Weathered, a New York-bred daughter of Key Contender, enjoyed a banner 3-year-old season last year in which she won 6 of 11 races, including the $160,000 Susan's Girl Stakes at Delaware. Since May, her only two defeats have come in the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks and in the You'd Be Surprised, in which she was caught on the wire by Are You Dreamin. Weathered lost by a nose.

"At the eighth pole, I thought she was a winner," Grusmark said. "The other horse is no slouch, she won a bunch of races, earned a lot of money. That day, she was an inch better than us."

Are We Dreamin was nominated to the Plankton but was not entered and is probable for the Affectionately.

Weathered, who will break from post 5 under Mike Luzzi, is 3 for 3 on off tracks and would benefit from any moisture that might be left following Wednesday's storm.

Weathered figures to get a stalking trip behind Devil House and Miss Blue Tye Dye. Devil House has returned to trainer Bruce Levine, for whom she went 1 for 2 over the inner track last year. She takes a significant drop in class after running in graded races at Turfway Park and Churchill Downs in her last two starts for trainer Rusty Arnold.

Miss Blue Tye Dye has won 5 of her last 7 starts, including stakes at Penn National, Presque Isle Downs, and Philadelphia Park.

Ididntmeantoo, supplemented to this field by trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., stretches out to a mile off three solid races at six furlongs. She was beaten one length in a mile and 70-yard allowance race at Delaware Park in June, her only start at this distance.