Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Beautiful Shot gets his shot
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Keith Desormeaux already has two Kentucky Derby prospects in My Boy Jack and Ayacara. On Saturday, he’ll hit the road to find out if he has a third candidate in Beautiful Shot, who makes his 2018 debut in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.
Beautiful Shot, who won the Speakeasy Stakes going six furlongs at Santa Anita last October, was one of nine 3-yearolds entered Wednesday for the Gotham, which offers 85 qualifying points (50-20-10-5) to its top four finishers toward the May 5 Kentucky Derby. The top choices in the Gotham figure to be Grade 1 winners Firenze Fire and Free Drop Billy as well as Grade 2 winner Enticed.
Also entered were Nine Route, a New York-bred who has won three consecutive races; Dial Operator, a New Jersey-bred who is 2 for 2; Old Time Revival, beaten a neck in the Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel on Feb. 17; Whereshetoldmetogo, the winner of a starter allowance at Gulfstream last out; and Cove Blue, a maiden winner from five starts for trainer Dale Romans.
Beautiful Shot, a son of Trappe Shot, is owned by Brad Kelly’s Calumet Farm, which has a Derby prospect in Bravazo, trained by D. Wayne Lukas. But Kelly as much as anyone subscribes to the more-themerrier theory when it comes to the Derby, and would like to get Beautiful Shot there if possible.
The Gotham will be Beautiful Shot’s first start since Nov. 11, when he finished third behind Greyvitos and Mourinho in the Grade 3 Bob Hope, a seven-furlong race at Del Mar. Greyvitos came back to win the Springboard Mile at Remington Park, while Mourinho won the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn before running fourth in the Southwest.
Beautiful Shot was diagnosed with ulcers coming out of the Bob Hope, precipitating some time off, according to Desormeaux.
“Hopefully, that’s the reason we got beat – we think so,” Desormeaux said. “We worked on him for a solid month, got him healed of those, and he’s been training exceptionally well since.”
Desormeaux said the oneturn-mile configuration of the Gotham played a significant role in his decision to send the horse across the country for his first start in four months.
“I don’t want to bring the horse back off a four-month layoff in a two-turn race,” Desormeaux said. Angel Arroyo is named to ride. Beautiful Shot was expected to ship to New York on Wednesday. But a nor’easter in New York forced the flight to be canceled until Thursday. That plane is scheduled to stop in south Florida and pick up Enticed, Free Drop Billy, Cove Blue, and Whereshetoldmetogo. Enticed and Free Drop Billy were cross-entered in Saturday’s Tampa Bay Derby in case there are more flight delays.
The Gotham will go as the last of 10 races on a card that begins at 12:50 p.m. Eastern.
Do Share gets green light
Do Share, unable to run in a pair of sprint stakes due to quarantine issues at Belmont Park this winter, will finally get back to the races in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap. Do Share, trained by Linda Rice, hasn’t run since winning the Gravesend here Dec. 23.
Do Share missed the Grade 3 Toboggan at Aqueduct on Jan. 27 because his barn was under quarantine due to a suspected case of the equine herpesvirus in another horse in that barn. Do Share then missed the Grade 3 General George on Feb. 19 at Laurel Park due to a confirmed case of equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy in another barn at Belmont, which prompted Laurel officials to ban New York shippers.
Rice gave serious thought to running Do Share in Saturday’s Stymie Stakes going a mile because she thought that would be an easier race, but she is hoping to get Do Share to the Grade 1 Carter and felt the Tom Fool would be a better steppingstone.
Do Share is the 120-pound highweight and will concede one to seven pounds to nine rivals: Favorite Tale, Great Stuff, Classy Class, Green Gratto, Skyler’s Scramjet, Spartiatis, Threefiveindia, Candid Desire, and Life in Shambles.
Harlan Punch on short rest
Trainer David Jacobson is never bashful about wheeling horses back on short rest, and he will run Harlan Punch in Saturday’s $150,000 Stymie six days after he won a high-caliber allowance race here Sunday.
“I needed a good race out of him the other day, and we got it,” said Jacobson, noting that the 100 Beyer Speed Figure was a career-best for Harlan Punch, a 5-year-old gelding by Harlan’s Holiday. “It didn’t take anything out of him.”
The allowance and the Stymie are the same one-mile distance.
Jacobson claimed Harlan Punch last Aug. 27 at Saratoga for $40,000. He wheeled him back in 13 days, and the horse won a starter allowance. Seven days after that, Harlan Punch won a first-level allowance race.
“He doesn’t like to train,” Jacobson said. “He’s the kind of horse I got to keep him going.”
Dylan Davis has the return call on Harlan Punch.
The Stymie is named after the Hall of Fame Thoroughbred who won 35 races from 131 starts. He was trained by Hirsch Jacobs, Jacobson’s uncle.
“I’d really like to win that race,” Jacobson said.
Others entered in the Stymie were Backsideofthemoon, Fellowship, Hit It Once More, Securitiz, Vulcan’s Forge, and Watershed.
Holiday Disguise streaking
The New York-bred Holiday Disguise will seek her fifth straight victory when she steps into open company for the first time in the $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational on Saturday.
She will take on a field that includes fellow New York-bred Highway Star, a multiple graded stakes winner, and Divine Miss Grey, winner of the Interborough last out.
Others entered in the Heavenly Prize, run as a one-turn mile, are Bishop’s Pond, Boule, Crimson Frost, Frost Wise, and Inconclusive.