In Trouble tops Gotham probables

In Trouble had no difficulty capturing his first two starts in sprints (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) Set to make his three-year-old debut on March 1 in the Grade 3, $500,000 Gotham is Team D Stable’s In Trouble, who was two-for-two as a juvenile including a 2 1/4-length victory in the Futurity in September at Belmont Park. The 1 1/16-mile Gotham will be the Tiz Wonderful colt’s first start beyond six furlongs, having broken his maiden going 5 1/2 furlongs on August 10 at Saratoga Race Course. “I don’t know (about the distance), but I feel good about trying it,” trainer Tony Dutrow said. “He’s excellent; he’s really, really happy. I feel the horse is ready to give us what he’s got Saturday.” In Trouble has been based this winter at Palm Meadows Training Center, where he breezed five furlongs in 1:02 3/5 on Friday morning. Surfing U S A, second last time out to Top Billing in a first-level optional claimer at Gulfstream Park, heads a trio of possible contenders from trainer Todd Pletcher for the Gotham. Also under consideration for the race are Master Lightning, most recently fourth in the Miracle Wood at Laurel Park, and possibly Harpoon, beaten a nose in the Sam F. Davis on February 1 at Tampa Bay Downs.

“Surfing U S A probably got a little tired going long for the first time,”
Pletcher said of the Roman Ruler colt, beaten 2 3/4 lengths by Top Billing in
the 1 1/16-mile race. “Aside from finishing second, we were pleased with his
effort. Hopefully he will move forward in his second race going two turns.”

Master Lightning, who closed out his juvenile campaign with a victory in an
optional claimer at the Big A, opened 2014 with a seventh-place finish in the
Jerome, and then improved his position slightly to finish 10 3/4 lengths back in
the Miracle Wood.

“He put himself in an impossible position early on,” Pletcher said. “We feel
he’s better than that race and should get another chance.”

The trainer said he had not yet made a decision on where Harpoon, 1-4-0 from
five starts, would next run but said the Gotham was under consideration.

Harpoon, who is listed as possible for the Gotham, closed fast to miss by only a nose in his stakes debut at Tampa Bay (SV Photography) Also expected in the Gotham, according to NYRA Stakes Coordinator Andrew Byrnes, are Treadway Racing Stable’s New York-bred Deceived, an 8 1/4-length winner of an optional claimer last time out; Extrasexyhippzster, winner of two consecutive stakes, the Don Rickles on December 21 at the Big A and the Miracle Wood; Nashua runner-up Financial Mogul, most recently sixth in the Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park; and Withers runner-up Uncle Sigh. In addition to Harpoon, others on the list of possibles are Coup de Grace, Cousin Stephen and Empire Dreams. Aqueduct will also stage the Grade 2, $200,000 Top Flight Handicap at 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares, and the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap for sprinters next Saturday. Reunited for the Top Flight will be Ladies Handicap winner Teen Pauline and third-place finisher Centring, along with Royal Lahaina, who was fifth in that race. Other possible starters include Ladies runner-up Flash Forward, Flores Island, who will be making her stakes debut, and last year’s winner, Summer Applause. “She’s really found herself going two turns,” Pletcher said of Teen Pauline, who opened her four-year-old campaign with a victory in the Affectionately prior to her 10 3/4-length romp in the Ladies.

Grade 1 winner Strapping Groom, a 6 1/2-length winner of the Gravesend Handicap on
December 21, is expected to head the field for the Tom Fool. Also likely for the
race are Candyman E and Dads Caps, who finished first and second, respectively,
in the Toboggan and the Spooky Mulder in their last two meetings, along
with third-place Toboggan finisher Non Stop; Jake N Elwood, making his 2014
debut; and Moonlight Song, who took the Gold and
Roses stakes for New York-breds last time out. Hackleton, most recently
victorious in an optional claimer, is possible.

Should Moonlight Song line up in the Tom Fool, he would be the first graded
stakes runner for trainer Charlton Baker. A trainer since 1998, Baker has won
1,268 races from 5,555 starts but has never been represented in a graded stakes.

Moonlight Song, a seven-year-old half-brother to 2009 Excelsior victor Giant
Moon, would be stepping up in class off a 1 1/2-length triumph in the Gold and
Roses overnight stakes for New York-breds on January 16 at Aqueduct. In his
final two 2013 starts, the Albert Fried homebred was second against state-breds
in the Hudson Handicap in October at Belmont and won an open optional claimer by
two lengths in December at Aqueduct.

“He’s 50-50 to run (in the Tom Fool),” said Baker, who competes at Aqueduct
Racetrack in the winter and splits his horses between NYRA’s tracks and Finger
Lakes Racetrack the rest of the year. “I need to get another work into him. It’d
be nice if I could do that.”

Since winning on January 16, Moonlight Song has turned in one workout, a
four-furlong breeze in a bullet :48 over the Belmont training track on February
10.

“He’s a seven-year-old who is lightly raced and is in his best form right now,” Baker
said. “We’ve been spacing his races, and that seems to have helped.”

Moonlight Song has raced on or within one length of the early leader in his past
five starts, but Baker thinks the son of Unbridled’s Song would benefit if he
came from farther off the pace in the Tom Fool.

“He runs his best when he sits two or three lengths off,” Baker said. “He has
speed, but when he uses it he doesn’t finish as strongly.”

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