Four New York-breds and two California-breds make up two-thirds of the nine-horse field entered in a competitive second-level allowance/optional $62,500 claimer for fillies and mares that serves as the feature on Thursday’s eight-race Aqueduct card.
Louisiana-based trainer Shane Wilson aimed a good portion of his stable to races early in the Fair Grounds meet, before Kentucky stables fully settled in for the winter. That proved a successful plan, but Wilson hardly has slowed through late December into January. Since Dec. 15, Wilson’s 12 winners are the most among Fair Grounds trainers, and through Sunday he held a commanding lead in the trainer standings, 24 to 11 over Brad Cox.
Track Phantom had his first timed workout since capturing the Gun Runner Stakes on Dec. 23 at Fair Grounds when he breezed five furlongs in 1:02 on Sunday.
Track Phantom, a Quality Road colt trained by Steve Asmussen, ran well losing a pair of one-turn miles to begin his career before winning a two-turn maiden at Churchill and the 1 1/16-mile Gun Runner, where he contested a taxing pace and held solidly for a 1 1/4-length victory. Asmussen has said since the day after the Gun Runner that he plans to run Track Phantom in the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 20 at Fair Grounds.
Honor Marie, the eye-catching winner of the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes in his 2-year-old finale Nov. 25, moved forward in his work pattern over the weekend, going a half-mile Sunday in 49.20 seconds. The breeze was Honor Marie’s second since returning to the work tab with an easy three furlongs on Dec. 31. Honor Marie had a light December after shipping to Fair Grounds, trainer Whit Beckman said, and remains on schedule for his 3-year-old debut Feb. 17 in the $400,000 Risen Star Stakes.
Bill Mott, a Hall of Famer now for decades, turned 70 last July. It is never too late to explore new places, and during 2023, Mott went somewhere he’d never been, his $17.43 million in stable earnings the highest mark of a long career.
Mott’s stable during 2022 racked up 26 graded stakes wins, the highest yearly figure of his career and a far cry from 2017 and 2018 when he won, respectively, nine and eight graded stakes. Things did not slow down in 2023, with 24 graded stakes wins, including 10 individual Grade 1 winners.
If Brad Cox is not named champion trainer of 2023, it will be largely because Cox has become a victim of his own success.
Cox has trained more than 200 winners the last seven years. His runners earned a staggering $30.9 million during 2023, more than Cox’s stable earnings of $23.8 million in 2022, less than the $31.7 million he reached in 2021. Cox won 30 graded stakes during 2023, the fourth straight year he has won 30 or more graded races.
Gone are the days when Chad Brown battled against the label of turf trainer. Brown has plenty of high-end horses for the main track now. Nonetheless, his bread and butter remains green.
Brown ranked sixth among American trainers in 2023 wins with 206. Narrow the standings to turf races, and Brown was the runaway leader, his 113 wins 21 more than Phil D’Amato’s second-leading total.
:: Full list of 2023 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories
Jaime A. Torres wrapped up his riding apprenticeship in October, and the $4,255,679 in mount earnings he won with the bug last year is one of the central reasons he is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2023.
The total ranked second among all North American-based apprentices in 2023, and it was achieved in less than a calendar year as Torres began riding as a journeyman on Oct. 15.
:: Full list of 2023 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories
Sofia Vives is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2023 because of the wins and mount earnings she compiled while riding in Canada.
Vives, a 21-year-old native of South Carolina, ranked second in wins among North American-based apprentices last year, with 122 from 764 starts. She racked up $3,569,901 in mount earnings in 2023 to rank fourth in that category after wrapping up her season Dec. 17.
Axel Concepcion is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2023 after a year in which he led his division in both wins and mount earnings and also secured the spring riding title at Laurel Park.
Concepcion is an 18-year-old native of Puerto Rico. He compiled a record of 198 wins from 1,002 starts last year, for mount earnings of $5,172,124. He started 2023 with a Jan. 19 win at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, and by February was based in Maryland.
