Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Enticed gets company in work
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Enticed, the beaten favorite in the Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park last month, worked five furlongs in 1:01.85 Friday morning at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida, his final serious move before he starts in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham at Aqueduct next Saturday.
Noting that Enticed had worked a slow half-mile – he went in 53.90 seconds – on Feb. 22, McLaughlin worked Enticed with another horse on Friday. McLaughlin also resorted to communicating with his exercise rider via two-way radios, something he said he hadn’t done before until Friday.
“He worked in company because he worked so slow last week,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin was satisfied with the work and said that as long as Enticed jogs well Saturday morning he will be flown to New York on Tuesday.
Enticed has made his last two starts around two turns, winning the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs last November before finishing fourth in the Holy Bull. McLaughlin felt that Enticed didn’t like being down inside and taking dirt in the Holy Bull.
By running in the Gotham, Enticed will be shortening up to a one-turn mile, and McLaughlin feels he should have a clear run early.
“We feel like it’s a mile out of the chute,” McLaughlin said. “Hopefully no bad post positions, less trouble, and we felt like it was maybe the right move. Whether it’s six or 10, still not a bad position going a mile, so we feel like he should have a clean trip.”
McLaughlin noted that he and officials from Godolphin Racing also considered running Enticed in the Tampa Bay Derby on the same day.
In the Gotham, Enticed will be reunited with Junior Alvarado, who rode the colt in his first three starts – two wins and a third in the Grade 1 Champagne.
McLaughlin said Withers winner Avery Island was scheduled to work on Saturday, and he remains on target for the Louisiana Derby on March 24.
Donk streaks into Sunday
Trainer David Donk has won his last five races at Aqueduct, going 3 for 3 last Sunday after winning with his final two runners the previous day.
Donk knows his streak won’t last forever and could very well end Sunday, when he sends out Pragmatist in a maiden $30,000 claimer at Aqueduct. Pragmatist is winless in four starts and takes another step down the claiming ladder in this 6 1/2-furlong race.
Donk is even pragmatic when it came to his win streak. The most notable victory came from T R Crew, who took advantage of a short field and a contested pace to win a second-level allowance by 3 1/4 lengths while earning a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, a career best for the gelding by Mizzen Mast.
“Four-horse field, two horses set up a pretty big pace,” Donk said. “I was fortunate where the track changed Sunday to where you could close.”
Donk does not have any piein-the-sky plans for T R Crew, especially with the spring approaching and the New York stakes races likely becoming more difficult. Donk noted that T R Crew is a Pennsylvaniabred and there may be opportunities at Parx or Penn National.
“I don’t know how good he’s going to be in New York,” Donk said. “He’s a cut below the better horses.”
On Feb. 24, Forever Daisy won a New York-bred maiden special weight by 6 1/4 lengths. Donk believes she could be better on turf than dirt.
“She could probably go into my turf arsenal in April,” Donk said.
One more for Quezon
Quezon, multiple New York-bred stakes-winning mare, will make the final start of her career in the $100,000 Correction Stakes at Aqueduct on March 17, trainer Robert Ribaudo said Thursday.
After being forced to scratch out of the Barbara Fritchie at Laurel due to an equine herpesvirus situation at Belmont Park, Quezon was being considered for the Heavenly Prize on March 10 or the Correction. Ribaudo prefers the six furlongs of the Correction to the mile of the Heavenly Prize, which is expected to draw Highway Star and Divine Miss Grey.
“With all the time between races she’s going to be fresh,” said Ribaudo, anticipating Quezon would not stay the mile of the Heavenly Prize if she were to go too fast early in the race. “She won going a mile as a 2-year-old and that’s the only time she won going a mile.”
Quezon, a 6-year-old daughter of Tiz Wonderful, is coming off back-to-back stakes victories at six and 6 1/2 furlongs.
Quezon will be bred to Gun Runner, the 2017 Horse of the Year, later this spring.
◗ Do Share, winner of the Gravesend on Dec. 23, worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.01 Thursday morning over the Belmont Park training tracking in preparation for a start in the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool at Aqueduct on March 10.
Due to equine herpesvirusrelated quarantine restrictions at Belmont, Do Share was forced to miss the Grade 3 Toboggan on Jan. 27 at Aqueduct and the General George at Laurel Park on Feb. 17. a