Skelly could bid for an unprecedented third consecutive win in the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap later this season at Oaklawn Park.
The champion Whitmore won three runnings of the race – in 2017, 2018, and 2020 – and holds the record for most victories in the Count Fleet. The meet’s premier race for sprinters was first held in 1974.
The 2-year-old Tiz the Law filly Book’em proved more than ready for a step up in class Nov. 30 at Churchill, winning a one-turn-mile first-level allowance race by more than 11 lengths, her 89 Beyer among the highest in her division this year.
Book’em cleared the maiden ranks and won her second start in restricted competition, but made short work of stronger rivals last weekend, disputing the early pace before drawing away to an easy win.
Jonathan’s Way rated behind horses much more effectively in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes than he’d done finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Problem is, while Jonathan’s Way sat back in fifth, First Resort pressed a slow 49.30 half-mile split, getting first run on Jonathan’s Way and beating him by more than two lengths in the KJC. Still, the performance encouraged connections enough that Jonathan’s Way remains a Kentucky Derby hope.
Trainer Brad Cox saddled the undefeated Godolphin filly Good Cheer to comfortably win the Grade 2 Golden Rod last weekend, but she wasn’t the most eye-catching among four Cox winners on that Nov. 30 card, composed only of 2-year-old races.
The Into Mischief colt Patch Adams in his second start won a seven-furlong maiden race by more than 10 lengths, his raw time of 1:20.77 yielding a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, just one point lower than the highest 2-year-old figure of 2024, Rated By Merit’s 99 from a Florida sires stakes in late October.
Several days before the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 30 at Churchill Downs, trainer Eoin Harty lamented the impatience with which First Resort, a 2-year-old colt he trains for Godolphin, approached the Saratoga Special on Aug. 10. Making his second start following a debut victory at Ellis Park, First Resort held gamely to finish second of eight in the Saratoga Special after compromising his chances dueling for the lead on a fast pace.
An eager Johannes is set to have his first start since a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Mile last month in the Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
Trainer Tim Yakteen has the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25 targeted as a wintertime goal for Johannes. Yakteen said on Thursday that Johannes has shown enthusiasm in recent weeks and that a start in the $200,000 San Gabriel Stakes has become more realistic.
The Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial headlines an Aqueduct spring stakes schedule that will offer 12 stakes worth $2.8 million during the 15-day meet that runs April 3-27, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday.
The Wood is the last of four stakes for 3-year-olds run at Aqueduct during the first quarter of 2025 that offer qualifying points to the May 3 Kentucky Derby. The winter program includes the Jerome, Withers, and Gotham, offered the first Saturday in January, February, and March, respectively.
Look Forward, a recent arrival at trainer Michael McCarthy’s stable, is a poignant addition.
A 2-year-old filly, Look Forward was the final winner for trainer Ben Cecil, in a maiden race at six furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 8. Cecil died on Nov. 29 after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 56.
McCarthy worked for Cecil well before he began training on his own. The two remained friends.
On Saturday at Los Alamitos, Look Forward is scheduled to start in the Grade 2 Starlet Stakes, a $200,000 race at 1 1/16 miles.
Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan is scheduled to have his first start since June in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
The $300,000 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs will be Mystik Dan’s first start since an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga on June 8, and the colt’s first sprint since a maiden race win at 5 1/2 furlongs at Churchill Downs in November 2023.
“We’re fully considering the Malibu,” trainer Kenny McPeek said on Wednesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- There will be 20 stakes worth $3.1 million offered during Aqueduct’s 2025 winter meet, which will have 49 programs from Jan. 1-March 30, the New York Racing Association announced Wednesday.
During the 2024 winter meet, there were 26 stakes offered totaling $3.5 million in purses. This winter, NYRA has eliminated a trio of $100,000 stakes – the Cicada, Rego Park, and Franklin Square – while moving three stakes – the Excelsior, Haynesfield, and Biogio’s Rose – to the spring meet.
