Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Ward with rare two-turn type
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Wesley Ward is best known for having fast, precocious, winearly 2-year-olds who aren’t often seen stretching out at age 3. In Hail to the Chief, Ward has a not-so-fast, late-developing colt who indicates that he wants to run long.
“He wants to go a mile and a half,” Ward said.
He’ll have to wait – perhaps until June – to get the chance to run that far. First, however, Hail to the Chief will get an opportunity to run 1 1/8 miles in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.
Hail to the Chief, a son of Danza owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, didn’t make it to the races until October, when he finished fifth in a sevenfurlong maiden race at Keeneland. Following a third-place finish in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race on Nov. 23 in the slop at Churchill, Hail to the Chief won a two-turn, one-mile maiden race over Turfway’s synthetic surface on Dec. 28.
“He’s not one that I normally train, and I’ve taken my time with him where I can get to this point and hopefully keep moving forward with him in this direction,” Ward said Monday. “He’s a gangly, big, long-striding guy and I’ve got some high hopes for him. I know he doesn’t have the numbers behind him, but I think every month that goes by he’s going to jump up big, big Beyer points and drop down in Ragozin Sheet numbers.”
Hail to the Chief earned just a 60 Beyer Speed Figure for his maiden victory, which was three points lower than his previous start, when he encountered some traffic trouble.
The top four finishers in the Withers earn qualifying points to the Kentucky Derby on a 10-4-2-1 basis. Last year, Tax won the Withers and ultimately the Jim Dandy at Saratoga. Sir Winston finished fourth in the Withers and eventually won the Belmont Stakes at 1 1/2 miles.
Entries for the Withers will be taken Wednesday. Those expected to enter include Remsen winner Shotski, Heft Stakes winner Monday Morning Qb, Display Stakes winner Vanzzy, and maiden winners Portos and Max Player. Prince of Pharoahs, who dead-heated for second in the Jerome, is possible.
Maiden race the highlight
The most interesting race on Thursday’s eight-race Aqueduct card is a six-furlong maiden race for 3-year-olds that goes as the fifth.
Ghost Fighter, a $500,000 son of Tapit, and Mr. Phil, a fourtime runner-up from six starts, figure to take the most money in the field of six. There are a pair of first-time starters from the barn of Chad Brown and firsters being sent out by Michelle Nevin and Eric Guillot.
Ghost Fighter has run twice, finishing second in a very productive 5 1/2-furlong maiden race at Gulfstream in September before finishing fourth at Churchill two months later.
“In fairness to him, I probably didn’t have him completely ready for that second start. He missed a little time,” said trainer Mark Casse, who is 6 for 22 this winter at Aqueduct. “We’re trying to run more in New York. I thought he would fit nice there and it looks like he has a shot.”
Jose Lezcano rides Ghost Fighter from the outside post.
Sixto is a son of Curlin who brought $250,000 at auction as a 2-year-old. Guillot said the colt is named for Sixto Chavez, who has worked as a groom and a foreman for Guillot for 16 years and was around his Grade 1 winners Champagne d’Oro and Moreno.
Speaking of the horse, Guillot said: “He’s a pretty nice colt. I’ve been taking my time with him, working him behind horses . . . . He’s a late May baby, but he’s coming around like a nice horse. It wouldn’t surprise me if he wins, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he comes running and gets third.”
Brown sends out the uncoupled entry of Cousin Andrew, a son of Into Mischief whose dam is a half-sister to a Grade 1 winner, and Fevola, a son of Midnight Lute who had been training at Palm Meadows in Florida before shipping to New York.
It’s a Wrap, a son of Twirling Candy, has a solid work tab and will try to break trainer Michelle Nevin’s 0-for-36 skein in New York.
◗ Trainer Mark Casse has laid out a new plan for Sir Winston that he hopes can get the 2019 Belmont Stakes winner to Dubai in March.
After scratching Sir Winston from last Saturday’s Jazil Stakes due to the sloppy track, Casse re-entered Sir Winston in a third-level allowance race going a one-turn mile on Friday at Aqueduct. Casse is hoping to use that and then the Bernardini Stakes going 1 5/16 miles at Aqueduct on Feb. 29 as a way to get to the Dubai World Cup on March 28.