It’s amazing the perspective just one week can give you.
Last week at this time, we were appreciating, among other things, the very impressive stakes victories at Gulfstream Park by a pair of highly talented 3-year-old fillies – Cathryn Sophia and Catch a Glimpse. Cathryn Sophia’s demolition of her Davona Dale field, and Catch a Glimpse’s turn of foot in the Herecomesthebride Stakes were displays of high class, and still remain so.
After conferring with the horse’s owner, trainer Stanley Gold has decided to give Awesome Banner one more chance around two turns and will bring him back next Saturday in the Tampa Bay Derby. Awesome Banner tired badly after setting the pace, finishing far behind the undefeated Mohaymen, in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.
Cutacorner worked a bullet five furlongs in 59.80 seconds Friday at Oaklawn. The allowance winner is being pointed for the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel Stakes here March 19, said trainer Jack Van Berg.
“He worked awful good,” Van Berg said.
Cutacorner breezed after the renovation break under jockey Alex Birzer. Oaklawn clockers had him galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.40.
Van Berg ranks sixth in the current standings at Oaklawn, with the barn having won nine races from 52 starts through Thursday.
NEW ORLEANS – Tom's Ready came out of the Risen Star Stakes in good shape, said trainer Dallas Stewart, who is looking past the colt's seventh-place finish and looking forward to the Louisiana Derby on March 26.
"That's where we're pointing,'' Stewart said, though he mentioned that other options, such as the Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park, the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, and the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, are available.
In the Grade 2 Risen Star on Feb. 20, Tom's Ready had a wide trip and faded in the stretch. He finished 13 lengths behind the winner, Gun Runner.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – At this time of year, college basketball teams on the bubble are in search of a quality win to make the NCAA tournament. Similarly, 3-year-old Thoroughbreds on the cusp of being considered Kentucky Derby candidates are in search of a résumé-building performance.
Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct offers many lightly raced, modestly accomplished 3-year-olds a chance to continue down the Triple Crown trail.
The Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap, at $500,000, is the richest race of the day Saturday and is supported by the Grade 2, $200,000 Mac Diarmida and the Grade 3, $150,000 The Very One Stakes. But the sensational Songbird was entered in the Grade 3, $100,000 Santa Ysabel at Santa Anita, which certainly will command everyone’s attention. And the stakes are getting interesting again at Aqueduct, where the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham is the main event.
Gotham Stakes
ARCADIA, Calif. – A half-mile workout Thursday morning at Santa Anita by Nyquist moved the undefeated 3-year-old colt one step closer to an early-season showdown against undefeated Mohaymen in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on April 2 at Gulfstream Park.
Nyquist worked a half-mile Thursday in 48.80 under regular exercise rider Jonny Garcia. It was the colt’s first work since winning the Grade 2, seven-furlong San Vicente Stakes in his first start of the season on Feb. 15.
It’s like clockwork. Nine days after a race, most high-quality Steve Asmussen-trained horses put in an easy half-mile workout, four furlongs in 51 seconds and change or something in that range. But there on Monday at Fair Grounds, nine days after he won the Risen Star Stakes in his first start at age 3, Gun Runner stepped outside the typical Asmussen pattern, going five furlongs in 1:02.80.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Shagaf and Rally Cry were both 4-5 when they met in a $38,000, first-level allowance race at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 29. While Shagaf won the race by two lengths, trip handicappers figure to be all over Rally Cry when the two meet again in Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.
Whether it breeds them or buys them, they win. That’s been the scenario this spring for Shadwell Stables, which has two top prospects moving toward the Kentucky Derby in Mohaymen and Shagaf, both of whom have yet to lose after a combined seven starts.
Mohaymen, purchased as a yearling for $2.2 million, already has won five races, including four stakes, and his victory in the Fountain of Youth last Saturday at Gulfstream solidified his position as the favorite on the Derby Watch top 20.
