Wishful Tomcat does the expected

Stretching his New York winning streak to nine, Wishful Tomcat ($2.50) was never seriously threatened en route to a wire-to-wire victory in Sunday's 31st running of the for New York-breds.

Trained by Rick Dutrow, Wishful Tomcat was making his first start since June, and the 4-year-old made good use of the rail post by quickly splashing away to a three-length lead over a sealed and muddy inner track. Nursed along through an easy second quarter of 25.46 seconds in the 1 1/16-mile race by Ramon Dominguez, Wishful Tomcat remained clear to report home by 2 3/4 lengths over Naughty New Yorker, who won back-to-back renewals of the A.M. Robb in 2006-07. It was another neck back to Pegasian, who finished third in the field of seven.

Wishful Tomcat ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:47.92, and earned $41,730 for IEAH Stable.

"I just tried to slow him down as much as I could," said Dominguez, who has been aboard for eight of Wishful Tomcat's nine New York wins - a streak that began with a maiden victory on the inner track in December of 2007. "There was no other speed in the race, and I was able to get away with a very comfortable second quarter. After that, it was just a matter of keeping him together. He was just the best horse in the race."