Hit Show upstages rivals in G3 Withers; Drew’s Gold remains undefeated in $100K Jimmy Winkfield

Posted On 12 Feb 2023

By Mary Eddy —-

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Gary and Mary West’s Kentucky homebred Hit Show announced his presence in the sophomore division with an emphatic 5 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers, a nine-furlong test for 3-year-olds, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The Withers, which was rescheduled from February 4 after cold temperatures and high winds forced the cancelation of the card, awarded 20-8-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers. Hit Show is now third on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

Trained by two-time Eclipse Award-winner Brad Cox, Hit Show lived up to his 6-5 favoritism and scored the first stakes triumph of his career on the heels of a 3 1/2-length optional claiming score in December at Oaklawn Park. He was scratched from the January 28 Grade 3 Southwest over the same oval in favor of the Withers.

“I just liked the way the Withers was coming up,” Cox said of the decision. “I thought he fit well with the group. Obviously, he was 6-5, so everybody else thought so, too. It actually worked out well delaying the race a week as we had a little bit of an issue getting [a flight] out of Memphis. We would have made the race last week, but we would have been close on getting there in time.”

Breaking sharply from post 4 under Manny Franco, Hit Show and longshot Prove Right raced prominently behind post-time second choice Arctic Arrogance, who was sent to the front from the inside post by Jose Lezcano to lead the field of seven into the first turn. Prove Right tracked closely in second with Andiamo a Firenze taking up third position as the trio put 3 1/2 lengths between them and Hit Show through an opening quarter-mile in 23.53 seconds over the fast main track.

Prove Right inched closer to the outside of Arctic Arrogance down the backstretch while a patient Franco held inside position aboard Hit Show in fourth. Both Andiamo a Firenze and Hit Show were asked for more through a half-mile in 48.09 as Arctic Arrogance pulled away from a retreating Prove Right. Hit Show had plenty when asked by Franco, but lacked room as Arctic Arrogance hugged the rail in front of him and a stubborn Prove Right hung to his outside through three-quarters in 1:13.43.

Hit Show swung wide as the field exited the turn and displayed an impressive turn of foot, easily overtaking second position from a tiring Andiamo a Firenze and setting his sights on a game Arctic Arrogance, who came under right-handed encouragement from Lezcano at the top of the stretch. Hit Show proved too much for his pacesetting foe and passed by with ease at the eighth-pole, cruising home under confident handling from Franco in a final time of 1:54.71.

Arctic Arrogance, who raced with blinkers for the first time, stayed on strongly to complete the exacta by 6 1/4 lengths over the rallying General Banker with Andiamo a Firenze completing the superfecta by a head over Prove Right. Jungfrau and Ninetyprcentmaddie completed the order of finish.

Franco, who celebrated his third Withers triumph, said he had an ideal trip.

“The horse helped me a lot. He had a clean break,” Franco said. “He broke so sharp out of there and put me in a perfect position. I wanted to be fourth or fifth and I was following the right horse [Arctic Arrogance] and I was so happy with the position. When it was time to move, he was there for me. He responded really well and got the job done.

“He’s a little green,” added Franco. “He’s learning race by race and I think he’ll be OK. I think the more distance the better for him. I put my hands down [in the gallop out] and I didn’t pull on him. I just let him gallop out and he kept going around. I had to pull him up to make him stop.”

Hit Show, a grey son of Candy Ride out of the dual graded stakes-winner Actress, banked $137,500 for his victory and improved his lifetime record to 4-3-0-0, adding to his aforementioned optional claiming victory and a debut maiden score in October at Keeneland. He returned $4.60 for a $2 win wager.

Cox said he will consider the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on April 8, which awards 100-40-30-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers, as a potential next target for Hit Show.

“I’m going to talk it over with the Wests and we’ll make a decision,” said Cox. “He’ll go back to Belmont tonight and chill out there for a while and recover and we’ll come up with a game plan for him. It very well could be the Wood Memorial. He obviously likes the racetrack there and we’ll see how things go.”

Linda Rice, trainer of Arctic Arrogance, said the son of Frosted may be distance limited as he posted his third consecutive runner-up effort in a Kentucky Derby prep at the Big A, including the Grade 2 Remsen in December and Jerome in January.

“Drawing the one hole, we decided we needed to be aggressive and get position going into the first turn,” said Rice. “He got pressured a little bit by a longshot, but all in all I thought it was a really good effort and the winner today was very good.”

Rice said Arctic Arrogance will likely turn his attention to a cutback next in the one-mile Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham on March 4, which awards 50-20-15-10-5 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-fiver finishers.

“I think that we’ll just take it race by race, one at a time,” said Rice. “I have felt that he might be more of a miler. After today’s effort, if things had gone better, I would have probably skipped the Gotham and gone to the Wood. But Jose and I were just chatting and I think he may be better at a flat mile, so we may go ahead and run in the Gotham.”

Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with a nine-race card, featuring the $100,000 Broadway for older New York-bred fillies and mares in Race 3. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct winter meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the best way to bet every race of the Aqueduct Racetrack winter meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

Drew’s Gold remains undefeated in $100K Jimmy Winkfield

By Ryan Martin

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Keeping an unbeaten record intact, Drew’s Gold utilized a frontrunning trip to earn his first stakes coup in Saturday’s $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield for 3-year-olds going six furlongs at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Owned by trainer James Chapman in partnership with Stuart Tsujimoto, Drew’s Gold is now unscathed in three lifetime starts, arriving off a sharp 3 3/4-length conquest against winners on January 28 at Laurel Park.

Drew’s Gold broke his maiden in May going five furlongs at Churchill Downs, defeating next out winners Undalay and Top of My Game. The dark bay or brown son of Violence, who was away slowly in both previous outings, broke alertly and built on his advantage through the stretch drive to win by 4 1/4 lengths under Jose Gomez.

Breaking from post 4, Drew’s Gold surged to the lead in tandem with Kool Kathmandu, who overcame a stumbled start, to mark the opening quarter mile in 23.47 seconds over the fast main track. Gomez nudged his charge around the far turn as Kool Kathmandu dropped out of contention with 5-2 second choice Clubhouse looming from third to the outside as the half-mile elapsed in 47.81.

At the top of the stretch, Drew’s Gold began to draw away as Clubhouse tried to launch a rally from the outside with Joey Freshwater looming in between horses. But neither horse was able to catch the winner, who completed the journey in a final time of 1:13.09.

Clubhouse completed the exacta by three-quarters of a length over Joey Freshwater with Daydreaming Boy and Kool Kathmandu rounding out the order of finish.

Gomez said he rode Drew’s Gold with confidence.

“He’s won two back-to-back, both breaking not the best. I just wanted to make sure he was standing right and let him do whatever he wanted to do,” Gomez said. “He came out strong today and I just tried to nurse him along.

“I knew I was banging heads, but I didn’t want to take too much out of him,” he added. “I just let him do his own thing.”

Chapman credited Gomez for an effective ride.

“I loved seeing that [the good break] because what he was doing is he was getting himself left and then he was taking off up the backside. Whenever you’ve got to grab a horse like that, it takes a lot out of them,” Chapman said. “He was able to ride him with one rhythm today, which I think helped him. He likes to sit with horses and watch horses, so when he broke good, I figured we had a really good chance.”

In addition to being undefeated, Drew’s Gold’s three victories have each come at different racetracks.

“He’s a really professional horse, it’s just little things,” Chapman said. “We had a setback after the first race and those little things that babies usually get through, it takes him a little bit longer. He could be spooking at a sign on the way to the paddock. It’s nothing major, and he’s an easy horse to get along with.”

Chapman said Drew’s Gold will likely target the seven-furlong Grade 3, $200,000 Bay Shore on April 8 at the Big A.

Returning $5.50 for a $2 win wager as the 8-5 post time favorite, Drew’s Gold banked $55,000 in victory which brought his earnings past the six-figure mark to $140,120.

Bred in Kentucky by Woodford Thoroughbreds, Drew’s Gold is out of the dual surface multiple stakes winning Vindication mare Frolic’s Revenge and is a half-sibling to American Frolic, a stakes winner on grass.

Live racing returns on Sunday at the Big A with a nine-race card, featuring the $100,000 Broadway in Race 3. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.