Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
True Romance adds early zip
Five of the seven original entrants plus one new player have signed up for Sunday’s rescheduled Pumpkin Pie Stakes, which has been pushed back a week and shifted to Aqueduct after the Belmont Park closing-day card was rained out.
A $100,000 race for fillies and mares at six furlongs, the post-Halloween Pumpkin Pie has a different flavor than a week ago due to the presence of the newbie in the field, True Romance.
When originally carded, it appeared that Lucy N Ethel and Bustin Out were the chief speed horses. But True Romance is a fast filly in her own right, and the threesome now figures to have a tougher time avoiding each other on the front end.
Lucy N Ethel has not been headed early in any of her eight races. Bustin Out, a New Jersey-bred who has banged out $344,000 in earnings in the land of Springsteen, has made the lead in eight of her last nine races dating to May 2016.
Lucy N Ethel won the Grade 2 Prioress at Saratoga in 2016. She tired to finish sixth and last in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom on Sept. 24 while making her first in 11 months. That race was her debut for Todd Pletcher, her fourth different trainer.
Bustin Out, a winner in 9 of 18 starts, all for trainer Chuck Spina, hasn’t started since winning the statebred Eleven North for the second year in a row at Monmouth Park on Aug. 27. While she’s quick, it’s difficult to predict how much stick she will show in a New York stakes.
She had been ridden in every start by the sidelined Jose Ferrer and now will have Manny Franco aboard Sunday.
True Romance enters off a hard-fought third-place finish in the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes at Keeneland for trainer Tim Hills. She was beaten only 2 1/2 lengths by Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint entrant Finley’sluckycharm, a winner of 9 of 12 starts.
If the fractions are suicidal, Indulgent could be the beneficiary. She has the ability to come from just off the pace and has been facing stiff competition all year for Kiaran Mclaughlin.
Cursor also would appreciate a hot pace. She returned from an eight-week layoff to score a late-running secondlevel optional-claiming win for Mark Hennig on Sept. 29.
The field is completed by Fusaichi Red.
Big Handsome gets rest
Tony Dutrow believes the effects of a long season have taken a toll on his 3-year-old turf horse Big Handsome, and on Tuesday he sent him to Ocala, Fla., for a 60-day vacation.
Big Handsome made his first three starts on dirt, but when Dutrow switched him to turf last March, the results were immediate. Big Handsome reeled off runaway maiden and allowance wins at Gulfstream Park and Belmont Park before winning the seven-furlong Paradise Creek at Belmont by 5 1/4 lengths.
In his next three starts, Big Handsome finished second by a neck to Bricks and Mortar in the one-mile Manila at Belmont, third by three-quarters of a length to Bricks and Mortar and Yoshida in the Grade 2 Hall of Fame going 1 1/16 miles at Saratoga, and second by a neck in the six-furlong Allied Forces at Belmont.
Dutrow had been considering a start against older horses in the new $125,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship but changed his mind when Big Handsome finished third at 2-5 on Oct. 27 in a six-furlong conditional allowance turf sprint.
“We started out with him in February, and he’s had a long campaign,” Dutrow said. “I think it caught up with him a little bit. I thought he was struggling the entire race. He didn’t put himself where he needed to be.”
Dutrow bought Big Handsome for $250,000 at the FasigTipton Kentucky fall yearling sale in 2015. The son of Street Boss has put together a 10-3-3-3 record and earned $231,000.
“I think the rest will give him a chance to have a very effective 4-year-old season,” Dutrow said. “I think his best distance is between six and seven furlongs around one turn.”
Like Big Handsome, Mo Town may have found a home on turf. He is on target for the $150,000 Gio Ponti, a 1 1/16-mile turf race on Nov. 24, according to Dutrow.
Mo Town won the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct last November. He had gone winless in four starts at 3, including the Wood Memorial and Risen Star, before romping by 6 1/2 lengths in a second-level optional-claiming turf race at Belmont Park on Oct. 12.
“We’ve been through a lot with him,” Dutrow said. “There has been a lot of good and some head scratchers. I was disappointed with a couple of his dirt races this summer, but I thought his last race was excellent.”
Melbourne Cup telecast
The New York Racing Association and Fox Sports 1 will team up for a live two-hour telecast of the 157th running of the Melbourne Cup on Monday.
The broadcast will air from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m. Eastern, with the two-mile Melbourne Cup scheduled for 11 p.m. The show will feature studio analysis of Australia’s biggest race by Greg Wolf, Gabby Gaudet, and Tom Amoss.
The Melbourne Cup is run at Flemington Race Course and will go off at 3 p.m. local time Tuesday.
“Our company has deep roots in Australian sport, and we’re proud to make FS1 the American home of the Melbourne Cup,” said Michael Mulvihill, FOX Sports executive vice president of research, league operations, and strategy.