Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Carter Handicap shaping up interesting
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Do Share, impressive winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap, and Vino Rosso, a determined winner of Saturday’s Stymie Stakes, could meet in the Grade 1, $400,000 Carter Handicap on April 6 at Aqueduct.
Do Share took advantage of a wicked pace to score a decisive 6 1/2-length victory in the $200,000 Tom Fool. He ran six furlongs in 1:08.77 and earned a career-best 105 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.
“Obviously, very impressive,” trainer Mike Maker said Sunday. “First inclination is the Carter, but need to talk it over with the connections.”
Do Share is 6 for 12 at six furlongs. He is 1 for 7 at seven furlongs, the Carter’s distance. Last year, Do Share finished eighth behind runaway winner Army Mule in the Carter following a runner-up finish in the Tom Fool.
“I think at any distance it would be tough to duplicate yesterday, but I wouldn’t see any issue with it,” Maker said of the seven furlongs.
Do Share is 4 for 7 in his career at Aqueduct.
The Tom Fool was Do Share’s third start for Maker and Three Diamonds Farm. A 6-yearold gelding by Candy Ride, Do Share was purchased by Three Diamonds for $40,000 out of Fasig-Tipton’s July selected horses of racing age sale.
Do Share won the 2017 Gravesend and was second in the Tom Fool last year. He was running last year for the estate of owner Antonino Miuccio – who died in the summer of 2017 – and trained by Linda Rice, who had claimed him for $50,000.
If Do Share starts in the Carter, he very well could meet Vino Rosso, who improved his record to 3 for 3 at Aqueduct with a three-quarter-length victory in the Stymie Stakes.
In the Stymie, Vino Rosso, who won last April’s Wood Memorial here at 1 1/8 miles, was making his first start since the Travers Stakes last August. He raced four wide under John Velazquez and turned back a midstretch challenge from Title Ready. Vino Rosso earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, equaling the figure he got in the Wood.
Vino Rosso has the option of the Carter or the Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on the same April 6 card.
But, as co-owner Mike Repole pointed out Saturday after the Stymie, Vino Rosso has “already won a Grade 2, he’s got to add a Grade 1 to his résumé,” he said.
Single prep for Espresso Shot
By virtue of her three-quarter-length victory in Saturday’s $250,000 Busher Invitational Stakes at Aqueduct, Espresso Shot basically earned a spot in the starting gate for the $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks on May 3.
Barring a change in plans, Espresso Shot will train up to the Oaks, according to her connections.
Trainer Jorge Abreu said Sunday that squeezing in another race “would be too much” for Espresso Shot. “I want to bring her in fresh.”
Espresso Shot won the Busher off a 10-week layoff following a victory in the East View Stakes for New York-breds on Dec. 29. There are 55 days between the Busher and the Oaks.
Abreu trains Espresso Shot, a New York-bred daughter of Mission Impazible, for NY Final Furlong Racing Stable, Maspeth Stable, and Parkland Thoroughbreds. The Busher was a one-turn mile race, whereas the Oaks is a two-turn, 1 1/8-mile race.
“The two turns is probably a question, but I don’t think the distance is going to be an issue for her,” Abreu said.
Espresso Shot will remain in New York at Belmont Park, but will get to Churchill Downs in plenty of time to get at least one work over the track, according to Dan Zapatta, managing partner of NY Final Furlong Racing Stable.
Espresso Shot earned an 80 Beyer for her Busher victory.
Meanwhile, Busher runnerup Oxy Lady left Aqueduct on Sunday morning on a van headed to Keeneland. She was vanned off following the Busher, in which she had to steady hard and emerged with lacerations to her left front ankle.
Trainer Jack Sisterson said Sunday that while Oxy Lady had several “nasty cuts” she was otherwise sound and in good order.
Sisterson said Oxy Lady would be under consideration for the Ashland at Keeneland or Gazelle here April 6, depending how she trains.
“We’ll let her tell us when she’s ready,” Sisterson said.
Gotham handle up 36 percent
All-sources handle for Saturday’s Gotham card was $12,953,807, a 36 percent increase over last year’s allsources figure of $9,527,248.
There were 11 races this year compared to 10 last year. However, there were 85 starters on Saturday compared to 87 last year.
Aqueduct’s business may have been aided by the fact Santa Anita was closed Saturday amid track safety concerns.
Ontrack handle for Saturday’s 11-race card was $1,533,431, a 21.1 percent increase over last year’s ontrack figure of $1,266,051.