Racing at Aqueduct.
Saturday’s Race Recap from Aqueduct:
(All odds US)
Race replays for yesterday’s races from Aqueduct can be found here:
Aqueduct:
Race 1: 4th@ 24.50/1
Race 2: 6th@ 3.40/1
Race 3: 1st@ 1.80/1 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Race 4: 3rd@ 5.50/1
Race 6: 3rd@ 1.60/1
Race 7: 3rd@ 1.70/1
Race 8: 5th@ 8.30/1
Race 9: 3rd@ 8.30/1
A typical race card doesn’t usually begin with the Main Event but ours did because that was our selection in Race 1. Unfortunately, Main Event was never able to deliver a knockout punch finishing an uninspired 4th. In Race 2, Full Moon Fever never got out of first gear finishing 6th off the long layoff. We finally got on the board in Race 3 when our BEST BET - St. Luke’s won for fun after stalking the early pace. In Race 4, Chestertown was no match for the runaway winner and heavily favored Happy Medium. In Race 6, Unique Unions had the early lead until the final 50 yards when he was passed by Geno and Un Ojo. In Race 7, Royal Realm gave us our third straight third place finish. In Race 8, Bank on Anna pressed the pace but packed it in when the real running began and in Race 9, Reggae Music Man returned from his long layoff and finished a closing third.
Third place finishes were the order of the day today for us unfortunately. Our BEST BET came through for us nicely and between that and our two nice-priced winners yesterday we’ve pretty much guaranteed a profitable week.
We’re headed back to Aqueduct to close out the week. Aqueduct will be closed after Sunday through Christmas and won’t reopen until Dec. 30, so we’ll be working on Gulfstream races in the interim. For Sunday though we expect fast conditions at Aqueduct beneath partly cloudy skies and seasonably mild temps.
Sunday picks for Aqueduct:
Race 1: Fancy Feline - 1 pt win (US Morning Line Odds: 5/2)
A six furlong maiden claiming event for New York bred fillies kicks off our last day before Xmas break and this is a pretty weak looking bunch. The field’s top speed figure on dirt belongs to Fancy Feline (by 8 points). She debuted back in June facing 7 other rivals and checked in a solid third after brushing the gate. She was put on turf and ran terribly but she has no turf breeding so that’s forgivable. In her next start she tired on the main track at Saratoga and something obviously went wrong that day as she’s been given time off since then. She earns top honors for us based on her debut effort.
Race 5: Tempermental - 1 pt win (US Morning Line Odds: 9/2)
Watched the replay of this runner as she exits the same race as a few other contenders in here. She took money that day on debut as she was ridden by top rider - Irad Ortiz and is sired by leading sire Practical Joke. She was off slowly that day and was ridden like the rider was told to give her a start over the track. Trainer Jeremiah Englehart wins with 20% of his second time starters and 23% of runners getting first time blinkers and he’s won with 2 of 6 runners so far this meet. Luis Saez aboard tells us that this one is well meant. We’re going to give her another try.
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Race 6: Maiden Beauty - 2 pts win - BEST BET (US Morning Line Odds: 5/2)
Allowance race runners go a mile. Maiden Beauty gets Lasix added back as she drops from stakes company and will be AWFULLY tough if she can run back to her effort prior to that. Not only does she appear the class of the field but her running style should be complemented by the early pace runners in here. BEST BET selection.
Race 9: Zap Man - 1 pt win (US Morning Line Odds: 10/1)
Maiden claimers take us into the holiday break and this time we race a mile. This was a fun race to handicap as there are many contenders but they all have very similar running styles - late running stalkers and closers and I feel like this field might be ripe for an upset on the front end. Enter Zap Man who improved upon his prior effort by 24 speed figure points. Many will point to the move back to turf that caused the improvement but he’s bred equally for turf and dirt. I argue that Jockey Trevor McCarthy made the difference by sending him to the lead. Today he adds blinkers which should only accentuate his speed. This one has main track workouts that say he should handle the dirt just fine. Trainer Jimmy Jerkens has been quiet lately but has won with 18 of 88 starters in route dirt races here at Aqueduct and won the Gotham mile earlier this year at 47/1 with Weyburn. Bombs away to end the day!
Good luck to everyone playing Sunday’s races from Aqueduct!