OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Handicappers will have to grapple with questions regarding class, distance, and fitness when deciphering whom to wager on in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.

The seven-horse field of 3-year-olds assembled for the Withers, contested at 1 1/8 miles, includes two horses obtained via the claim box for $50,000, one bought at auction for $900,000, two horses who have not run in at least 10 weeks, one who has done his best work on synthetic, and another who hasn’t won beyond 5 1/2 furlongs.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Rudy Rodriguez hopes all the talk about Brady this weekend won’t be limited to the Super Bowl.

On Saturday, Rodriguez will send out Not That Brady against six rivals in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct. At 1 1/8 miles, the Withers should be a good measure of a horse’s ability to get a distance of ground and whether or not to continue down the path to the Kentucky Derby, at 1 1/4 miles. The Withers offers 17 Derby qualifying points to its top four finishers (10-4-2-1).

Gray Attempt won the $150,000 Smarty Jones wire to wire last week at Oaklawn Park, but it might be a mistake to brand the 3-year-old as one-dimensional. He was stretching out from six furlongs to a mile for a race that ended at the sixteenth pole and he drew the widest gate in circumstances that dictated tactics, trainer Jinks Fires said.

“We had the eight post and if you don’t go on from there, you could wind up getting hung wide all the way around the first turn,” Fires said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Robert “Butch” Reid told jockey Jose Ortiz he’d buy him lunch if he could hold the freakishly fast Maximus Mischief to a half-mile in 49 seconds over the packed down, sealed, but still muddy racetrack here Monday morning in his all-important final breeze before Saturday’s Grade 2 Holy Bull.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – For the second time in a week, a major contender has been withdrawn from consideration for Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.

Le General, who has won two New York-bred races by a combined 10 lengths, came out of his last workout with a sore suspensory in his right foreleg, according to majority owner Jeffrey Kallenberg.

On Jan. 16, Le General worked five furlongs in 1:04.08 over a deep Aqueduct main track.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday will play a pivotal role in the short-term future of Gum Tree Lane, the promising winner of a maiden race at Los Alamitos in December.

Owned by Michael House and trained by Phil D’Amato, Gum Tree Lane will make his stakes debut in the $150,000 Lewis at 1 1/16 miles. D’Amato chose the Lewis over a first-condition allowance race with an $80,000 claiming option at a mile on Thursday.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It was Monday morning and the owners of Somelikeithotbrown still had yet to decide where the colt would make his 3-year-old debut.

“We’re leaning toward the Dania Beach [at Gulfstream] Saturday,” said Harvey Diamond, who co-owns the New York-bred with longtime partners Jim Shircliff and David Koenig. “But we might wait for the [Feb. 8] Battaglia at Turfway or even the [Feb. 16] Risen Star” at Fair Grounds. “This decision is almost driving me crazy.”

Listed, $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes, one mile, Oaklawn Park, Jan. 25, 2019
(10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)

Winner: Gray Attempt, by Graydar
Trainer: Jinks Fires
Jockey: Shaun Bridgmohan
Owner: Dwight Pruett
Beyer Speed Figure: 84

Gary Barber has purchased Our Braintrust, runner-up in the $150,000 Jerome at Aqueduct on New Year's Day, from Maryland horseman Cal Lynch and the 3-year-old is now based in Ocala, Fla., with trainer Mark Casse.

On Tuesday, Casse breezed Our Braintrust a half-mile in 49 seconds at the Casse Racing Training Center.

"He went very well, I was pleased with him," Casse said. "I feel ready to run him."

Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes, one mile and 70 yards, Fair Grounds, Jan. 19, 2019
(10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)
Winner: War of Will, by War Front
Trainer: Mark Casse
Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione
Owner: Gary Barber
Beyer Speed Figure: 94