Wickedly Smart makes dirt debut prior to Keeneland sale
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Ireland-based trainer Jeremy Noseda has not been shy about sending horses to America to race, but usually the spots are more ambitious than a $67,000, first-level allowance race over Aqueduct’s inner track in early January. But there is a reason Noseda has Wickedly Smart entered in Thursday’s 1 1/16-mile feature for older fillies and mares.
Wickedly Smart, a 4-year-old daughter of Smart Strike, is cataloged to be sold at next week’s Keeneland January sale of horses of all ages, “and we thought we’d have a run with her there before heading down to Keeneland,” Noseda said Monday from his base in Ireland.
Wickedly Smart brought $350,000 as a yearling at the 2013 Keeneland September sale. She went 1 for 4 in Europe, most recently winning a 1 1/16-mile race over the synthetic surface at Wolverhampton in October.
Wickedly Smart has never raced on dirt, but her pedigree suggests she’ll handle it. Two of her half-sisters, Ash Zee and Wicked Mizz, won on dirt. Ash Zee won twice sprinting at Saratoga and was second in the Grade 2 Indiana Oaks. Wicked Mizz won a minor stakes at Delaware Park and was beaten a nose in a listed stakes over Aqueduct’s inner track.
“She could be a filly that steps up on the dirt,” Noseda said of Wickedly Smart.
Another half-sister, Wickedly Perfect, won the Grade 1 Alcibiades over Keeneland’s synthetic surface.
Wickedly Smart worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 over the Belmont training track in late December. Manny Franco will ride from post 8.
The horse to beat is High Ridge Road, who comes off a second-place finish behind next-out winner Perfect Freud in a similar race Dec. 13.
KEY CONTENDERS
High Ridge Road (Last 3 Beyers: 81-80-73)
◗ She raced three wide throughout and closed the gap to a half-length but couldn’t catch a loose-on-the-lead Perfect Freud in her first try against winners here Dec. 13. Perfect Freud came back to win a second-level optional claimer Sunday, her fourth win in five tries over the inner track.
Wickedly Smart (North American debut)
◗ She showed speed in her two most recent starts, a second-place finish in August and a win going 1 1/16 miles in October. The horses who ran second and third behind her at Wolverhampton did come back to win. The horses she finished between when second last August also came out of that race to win.
◗ She gets Lasix for the first time.
Jules N Rome (Last 3 Beyers: 77-73-76)
◗ She finished second against New York-breds, losing a pace battle with the repeating winner Building Permit here Dec. 11.
◗ She goes first off the claim for Danny Gargan, who has gone 8 for 38 with a $2.28 return on investment in the first start off a claim over the past year. She will be ridden by Kendrick Carmouche, who was aboard all five of Gargan’s winners at the inner-track meet. Over the past year, that jockey-trainer combo is 16 for 45 with a $3.67 ROI.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Jules N Rome. Trainer Danny Gargan is 26-12-6-1 with a $4.25 ROI over the past five years in dirt routes with jockey Kendrick Carmouche aboard. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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