Wicked Trick could be developing into stakes type for Rice

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Linda Rice has a history of finding stakes horses at the claim box. Could Wicked Trick be the next one?

Rice took Wicked Trick – a horse with one eye – for $16,000 in August. Wicked Trick has won all three of his starts for Rice – and five in a row overall – including a second-level allowance victory last Saturday in which he made up six lengths in the final furlong to win by three-quarters of a length. He earned a career-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure.

Now, Wicked Trick could be heading to the Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan Stakes here Jan. 18, Rice said.

“He doesn’t have any quit in him, he’s really got a lot of finish,” Rice said. “Maybe he could get seven furlongs as long as they have enough pace in the race.”

Wicked Trick is by the Japanese-bred Hat Trick – whose top U.S. progeny is the graded stakes winner Win Win Win – out of the Sky Classic mare Classic Chic. While the pedigree suggests turf, Wicked Trick went 0 for 13 on that surface as he lost his first 15 starts. As a 2-year-old, he finished 12th in the off-the-turf Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland.

Wicked Trick ran second in an off-the-turf maiden $30,000 claiming race at Parx Racing in June for trainer Michelle Nevin before winning for maiden $20,000 at Saratoga in July. Rice took Wicked Trick for $16,000 in August – a race Wicked Trick won by 6 3/4 lengths.

“Hat Trick is kind of an obscure stallion who doesn’t get near as much credit as he should, so I liked that part of it,” said Rice, who claimed the horse for herself and Stephen Cooper. “I thought his dirt number was improved over his turf races and for that money I thought he was worth it. I didn’t anticipate him to get as good as he has.”

Following a two-month freshening, Wicked Trick won a starter allowance at Belmont in October and two open allowance races at Aqueduct. Even Rice was amazed with Wicked Trick’s furious rally on Saturday that carried him from fourth to first.

“That was crazy,” Rice said.

Rice claimed Palace for $20,000, and that horse went on to win several stakes including the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga. Other claimers-turned-stakes winners for Rice include Do Share, Kid Cruz, Just Got Out, and Bavaro.