Gotham field in flux with only four confirmed starters

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The field for next Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes remained a work in progress a week out, with only four horses considered definite and a few other fringe players under consideration.

The Gotham lost one expected starter on Friday when trainer Wesley Ward said One Fast Cat, a debut winner at Turfway Park on Feb. 4, would not make the race. Though One Fast Cat worked five furlongs in 1:02.60 at Keeneland on Friday, Ward said the horse missed too much training and will now be pointed to the Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct on April 3.

As of Friday, the four considered definite for the Gotham are Freedom Fighter, the runnerup in the Grade 2 San Vicente; Highly Motivated, winner of the Nyquist Stakes last November at Keeneland; Capo Kane, winner of the Jerome Stakes and third in the Withers; and Wipe the Slate, a maiden winner who finished last in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis at Santa Anita.

The Gotham winner earns 50 points toward the May 1 Kentucky Derby, effectively making it a win and you’re in race.

Among those considered possible are Smiley Sobotka, runner-up to Keepemeinmind in the Kentucky Jockey Club. Smiley Sobotka most recently finished ninth in the Sam. F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs. Trainer Dale Romans said Smiley Sobotka “hated the track at Tampa.”

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said he would breeze Awesome Gerry and Irish Honor on Sunday at Gulfstream Park and make a decision if either would run.

The only locally based runner under consideration for the Gotham is Weyburn, a maiden winner last Dec. 5 who missed the Jerome due to illness and was scratched out of the Jimmy Winkfield on Jan. 31 due to a foot bruise.

On Thursday, Weyburn worked five furlongs in 1:00.17 over the Belmont Park training track. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.67.

Trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Friday that he is considering the Gotham or a first-level allowance that is scheduled on the same card for Weyburn.

Jerkens is also trying to decide whether to run Mo Desserts, a 15 1/2-length maiden winner on Feb 8, in the $250,000 Busher Invitational on March 6 or an allowance the previous day. On Friday at Belmont, Mo Desserts worked five furlongs in 1:02.31 over the training track.

Funny Guy retired

Funny Guy came out of his last-place finish in the Grade 3 General George Stakes at Laurel Park on Feb. 20 with an injury and has been retired, trainer John Terranova said Friday.

Terranova said Funny Guy suffered “a small fracture” in his left knee that would heal given time, but “to get back to the level he’s been running at probably wouldn’t happen,” Terranova added.

Funny Guy, a New York-bred son of Big Brown, was a fivetime stakes winner, winning a Stallion Stakes race going 6 1/2 furlongs and the Albany going 1 1/8 miles. He retires with a record of 6-6-0 from 18 starts and earnings of $638,645.

Terranova, who trained Funny Guy for Randy Hill, Gatsas Stable, and Swick Stable, is searching for a farm to stand Funny Guy.

“He was a hell of a horse with a great disposition and has a striking resemblance to Danzig, one of his great grandsires, even down to the markings,” Terranova said.

Horses 10 and up to be banned

Beginning with the Belmont Park spring/summer meet that begins April 22, the New York Racing Association will no longer permit horses 10 years of age and older to race at its tracks.

The house rule was not officially announced, but appears in the Belmont condition book and on the stall applications for that meet.

According to Keith Doleshel, the racing secretary at Aqueduct and assistant racing secretary at Belmont and Saratoga, it was a rule borne out of equine safety and welfare.

“In the last couple of years we’ve had a couple of 10-yearolds and up break down,” Doleshel said.

There are three horses who raced at Aqueduct in 2020 who are 10 or older, including Mills, an 11-year-old who won an $8,000 claimer here on Jan. 18. Most recently, he finished fourth at that same level on Feb. 4.

Eddie Barker, the current trainer of Mills, said he doesn’t see any reason a horse 10 years old or older couldn’t race provided they’re deemed sound and healthy.

“He’s as healthy as any horse in my barn and he’s probably sounder than most horses in my barn,” Barker said.

Instead of an outright ban, Barker suggested putting in a provision where if a horse 10 or older was beaten 10 to 15 lengths in three straight races then it had to be retired.

Barker said he hopes to run Mills once or twice more at Aqueduct before retiring him. Barker said Mills would make a good stable pony or perhaps be trained to be a foxhunting horse.

Orpheus, a 10-year-old trained by Leah Gyarmati, was entered to run Saturday at Aqueduct.

Too hot to even speak, a 10-year-old gelding who has not run since June but who has been training at Belmont this winter, and River Knight, a now 12-year-old gelding who went 1 for 71 and most recently raced here in December, are other horses who will be impacted by the new rule.

New jockey protocols

The New York Racing Association on Thursday announced updated jockey protocols for the remainder of the Aqueduct winter meet that will allow out-of-town riders to participate provided they produce two negative COVID-19 tests within a five-day period.

Originally, only those riders who were considered part of the Aqueduct jockey colony as of Dec. 31 could ride at the meet, which ends on March 28. Beginning next week, an out-of-town rider who wants to ride at Aqueduct may do so provided they test negative twice in New York in a five-day period. Incoming riders will be provided isolated jockey quarters.

Javier Castellano, who is currently riding at Gulfstream Park, is scheduled to come up from Florida for Saturday’s Gotham card.