Aqueduct Racetrack Notes

NYRA PRESS OFFICE —-

Aqueduct Racetrack Notes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Wizard Stables’ stakes-placed Walk With Me, who posted a game runner-up effort in the $500,000 NYSSS Fifth Avenue on December 16 at Aqueduct Racetrack, will likely take another swing at her first stakes conquest in the one-mile $100,000 Maddie May on February 18 at the Big A.

Trained by David Duggan, the talented Central Banker bay was last seen making her stakes debut in the seven-furlong Fifth Avenue where she stalked the pace in eighth-of-12 down the backstretch and 4 1/2 lengths back of pacesetter Soloshot. Walk With Me angled five-wide into the stretch to make a sustained run down the lane and picked off all but one rival to finish 2 1/2 lengths back of the victorious My Shea D Lady, earning $100,000 for her effort in the lucrative sprint for eligible state-sired juvenile fillies.

“I like that – it keeps the lights on,” Duggan said, with a laugh. “We let her mature a little out of the last race. You can’t expect them to learn all their lessons in one race – it just doesn’t happen that way.”

Walk With Me was a pacesetting winner on debut in a local six-furlong maiden against fellow New York-breds in November. The win garnered a 52 Beyer Speed Figure ahead of a 46 Beyer for her Fifth Avenue effort.

Duggan said he expects Walk With Me to improve with experience.

“It’s a step up again and she has to step her game up numbers wise, but she’s that type,” Duggan said. “Distance will help and she’s trending in the right direction. I like what I see.”

Bred by Richard Nicolai, Walk With Me was a $100,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sale. She is out of the dual stakes-placed Posse mare Might Be, who is a full-sister to multiple stakes-winner Sheriffa and a half-sister stakes-winner Tiergan.

Duggan added that Race Point Stables’ graded stakes-placed Andiamo a Firenze, whom he haltered for $62,500 out of a strong runner-up effort in a December 31 optional claimer against open company, will likely be pointed to the state-bred $100,000 Say Florida Sandy on January 28.

Tomorrow, Duggan had planned to send Ken Wheeler, Jr.’s stakes-winning New York-bred Kant Hurry Love to Laurel Park for the six-furlong What A Summer in search of her first open company stakes triumph. With Saturday’s card canceled at the Maryland oval, the day’s six stakes races are slated to be rescheduled for next weekend.

“I spoke to them the other day and they said they would bring it back next week if they canceled,” said Duggan. “That’s where we’re at.”

The daughter of Kantharos, who had been tabbed the 9-5 morning-line favorite, was last seen finishing a gutsy second to Hot Fudge in the six-furlong Garland of Roses on December 9 where she pounced from 4 1/2 lengths off the pace and just missed by a neck.

The next spot on the Aqueduct stakes schedule for Kant Hurry Love would have been the seven-furlong Interborough, but Duggan said he prefers to keep the 5-year-old at six furlongs in the What A Summer.

“Here, seven-eighths is a gray area,” said Duggan. “She’s in great order. She looks like she fits in there [the What A Summer]. I’m not afraid to put her on the van. She’s like a dog with a bone right now.”

Kant Hurry Love made her first 11 outings for conditioner Christophe Clement before joining Duggan’s barn last February. Since then, she has hit the board in 7-of-8 starts, including a win in the state-bred Dancin Renee in June at Belmont Park. She has banked $424,850 through a lifetime record of 19-5-7-4.

A win with Kant Hurry Love would only add to an already stellar start to the year for Duggan, who has hit the board 6-of-7 starts so far, including a claiming win with Classic Diva and two additional runner-up efforts yesterday at the Big A.

Over the past two years, Duggan, who started his first horse in 2005, has enjoyed a resurgence in his training career to post some of his best numbers to date in wins and earnings. Last year, he posted his third-best earnings to date with $968,089 through a 105-12-16-11 record.

“This is where we make a living,” said Duggan, who was recently elected as a trainer/owner director for the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (NYTHA). “The horses are doing well at the right time, and this is bread and butter time. And it’s not just survival, it’s good money – you’re running for great money. It’s a great start and we need it. Just a few years ago, we had few horses. It’s great to relevant and to go over there with confidence and to run well.”

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Stakes-winners Drum Roll Please, Comparative on the work tab

A number of upcoming stakes starters for trainer Brad Cox breezed over the Belmont Park dirt training track Friday, led by Gold Square’s last-out Jerome-winner Drum Roll Please, who worked a half-mile in 49.55 seconds in company with older stakes-winner Tabeguache.

Drum Roll Please, a sophomore Hard Spun colt, picked up 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for his emphatic 3 3/4-length score over El Grande O in the one-turn mile Jerome on January 6 at the Big A, upping his total to 13 points following a third-place finish in the nine-furlong Remsen on December 2 here.

“It was a good breeze – he [Drum Roll Please] was in the bit throughout,” said Dustin Dugas, local assistant for Cox. “They both went well.”

Drum Roll Please is targeting the nine-furlong Grade 3, $250,000 Withers on February 3 at the Big A which offers 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred Comparative, who captured the Ladies on the Jerome card, breezed a half-mile under Dugas in 50.22 Friday over the Belmont dirt training track.

With Manny Franco up in the nine-furlong Ladies, the 4-year-old Street Sense bay tracked the speed of She’s Mo Bubbly from second position and battled on gamely down the lane when Saddle Up Jessie made a bold early bid for the lead at the stretch call. Comparative was resurgent inside the final sixteenth and put a neck in front at the wire to earn the win and a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure.

“She had a nice solo breeze in 50 and 1 which is about par for her,” Dugas said. “I like the way she came back. We’re keeping her ticking over as far as breezes go.”

While no target has been picked out for Comparative yet, one option is the Listed $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational, a one-turn mile for older fillies and mares on February 10 here.

Calumet Farm’s Air Cav, last seen finishing a distant fifth in the Grade 1 Champagne on October 7 at Belmont at the Big A, worked a half-mile in 50 flat Friday, while Bergen went a half-mile in a sharp 48.22 Friday with the second-fastest of 122 works at the distance.

Both Air Cav and stablemate Bergen are targeting the $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield, a six-furlong sprint for sophomores on January 27 here.

“I really like Air Cav cutting back. He’s come back training good since the Champagne,” Dugas said. “He had a nice, little breeze this morning – quite a bit slower than Bergen, but still a good breeze. He came back good.”

Air Cav, a sophomore son of Mitole, graduated at first asking in an August 30 maiden special weight sprint at Horseshoe Indianapolis, besting next-out winner Cats by Five by a neck.

Spendthrift Farm, Martin Schwartz, Gandharvi, Big Easy Racing, Winners Win, James Bakke, Titletown Racing, Kueber Racing, Golconda Stable, Ali Goodrich and Mark Parkinson’s Bergen was a $375,000 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training purchase.

He had a similarly sharp half-mile breeze in 47.90 on January 12 with Trevor McCarthy up that Dugas said benefited Friday’s work with an exercise rider aboard.

“We broke him off that day with the pony and Trevor did a good job with him,” Dugas recalled. “He was being really aggressive and Trevor came back with some good information that we used for today’s breeze which helped a lot.

“He can be an aggressive horse, but he did it easily today,” Dugas continued. “It was a fast breeze but I really like the way he went about it. He’s progressed well in each of his breezes and thinking a little bit more and doing it right. I’m really happy with the way he’s coming into it.”

The sophomore son of Liam’s Map rallied from sixth to graduate by three-quarters of a length in his October debut sprinting six furlongs at Keeneland. He followed last out with a deep-closing second traveling one mile in an optional-claiming tilt in November at Churchill Downs.

Bergen, out of the stakes-placed Harlan’s Holiday mare Toni’s Hollyday, is a half-brother to Grade 1-winner Chi Town Lady.

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Aqueduct Racetrack Week 4 stakes probables

Saturday, January 27

$100K Jimmy Winkfield

Probable: Air Cav (Brad Cox), Bergen (Cox), Stolen Magic (Linda Rice)

Possible: El Divino Nino (Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon), Guanare (Richard Dutrow, Jr.), Iridescent (David Jacobson), Prado Road (Brittany Russell)

Sunday, January 28

$100K Say Florida Sandy (NYB)

Probable: Aggregation (Chad Brown), Andiamo a Firenze (David Duggan), Rotknee (Mike Maker)

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