Aqueduct: Stan the Man looks to fire off the bench in $125K Queens County

By Ryan Martin —-

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Long Lake Stables’ Stan the Man will make a long awaited return to action in Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile $125,000 Queens County over the main track at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by John Terranova, the gelded Broken Vow chestnut has not raced since finishing fifth to Catalina Cruiser in the Grade 2 True North on June 8 at Belmont Park, but brags a highly consistent record on the Big A main. His last victory took place four starts back against allowance company at the Ozone Park oval going a flat mile, where he registered a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure.

Stan the Man has placed in nine of his 11 starts at Aqueduct, compiling four victories.

“He’s a very useful Aqueduct horse,” Terranova said. “We’ve been sitting on go for a while and just were looking for the right place to run him. Everything’s been great. We had him ready for the Fall Highweight but decided to skip after it was postponed. He’s better at this distance than he is sprinting.”

Stan the Man will make his fifth start against stakes company with his best finish coming two starts back in the Grade 3 Westchester, where he set a moderate pace, but was a hard-fought second to Nicodemus.

“A mile and an eighth coming off the break is tough but he’s trained well. He’s consistent and we’ve been able to get quite a bit into him, so he’s strong. Hopefully, he’s not too rusty off the bench,” Terranova said.

Jockey Dylan Davis has piloted Stan the Man in his last five starts and will be back aboard from post 2.

Trainer Peter Miller sends Louisiana-bred Major Cabbie to the Big A following a distant fifth in the Grade 1 Clark at Churchill Downs. The Into Mischief bay was a dual allowance winner over the Keeneland main track in October before taking on top-caliber company.

Owned by Sareen Family Trust, Major Cabbie is out of the unraced Pine Bluff broodmare Love Catcher – a half-sister to graded-stakes producing dam Unbridled Girl. He was purchased for $260,000 from the Ocala Breeders Sales Company’s 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale in April 2017.

Major Cabbie will break from post 4 under Junior Alvarado, who guided Ron the Greek to victory in the 2011 Queens County.

Bleu Max Stables’ Adventist will look to make amends following a distant seventh in the Richard W. Small on November 30 at Laurel Park.

Trained by Uriah St. Lewis, the son of Any Given Saturday was a 50-1 upset winner of the Grade 3 Greenwood Cup at Parx two starts back over graded stakes winners War Story and Marconi. Adventist, who has made 44 career starts, was three times graded stakes placed during his sophomore campaign with a trio of third-place efforts in the local preps for the Kentucky Derby, including the 2016 Grade 1 Wood Memorial, where he was 2 ¼ lengths in arrears of Outwork.

Adventist boasts the highest lifetime earnings in the field with $567,715 banked in a 44-5-3-7 career.

Jockey John Bisono will pilot Adventist from post 3.

Making his 21st start of the year is Bon Raison, who breaks from post 6 for owner and trainer Peter Tournas.

The 4-year-old son of Raison d’Etat has won four of his 20 starts this season, including scores in the Tale of the Cat at Saratoga and Peeping Tom at the Big A, the former of which he recorded a career-best 100 Beyer.

Bon Raison will be ridden by Joey Martinez.

Completing the field are Roaming Union [post 1, Eric Cancel], Backsideofthemoon [post 5, Jose Lezcano] and Han Sense [post 7, Julio Correa].
The Queens County is slated as Race 8 on Saturday’s nine-race card. First post is 12:30 p.m. Eastern.