Wollaston Bay all the way

Wollaston Bay, beaten as the odds-on favorite by Bill Place in last month's Jimmy Winkfield Stakes, turned the tables on that rival Monday, recording a 1 1/4-length, front-running score in the $70,070 Fred "Cappy" Capossela Stakes at Aqueduct.

Breaking sharply from the outside post under Shaun Bridgmohan, Wollaston Bay carved out fractions of 22.94 seconds, 46.46, and 58.22, and covered six furlongs in 1:10.75 over a fast inner track. Wollaston Bay, a son of Sea of Secrets trained by Gary Sciacca and owned by One Pond Stable, returned $9.40.

Bill Place, sent off as the 3-5 favorite, chased Wollaston Bay around the track from the inside, but his rally fell short in the stretch.

Bridgmohan said the key to victory was an alert start, something he said Wollaston Bay didn't get in the Winkfield.

"Last time, he broke a little flat-footed,'' Bridgmohan said. "Today he left there running, which made my job a little bit easier. He's much happier being up there, and when he gets there he relaxes and he settles real well, and when they came to him he dug in and tried the whole way."

Sciacca said that the Gotham, a two-turn, 1 1/16-mile race at Aqueduct on March 10, might be too soon to race Wollaston Bay next and that he may opt to wait for later in the year to stretch the colt out in distance.