Heavy rain, sloppy track likely

One thing seems sure at Aqueduct for Sunday – an off track, if heavy rain falls in the New York area as forecast.

At 1 p.m. Friday, the National Weather Service was calling for a 90 percent chance of showers and as much as an inch of rain beginning Saturday evening and into Sunday afternoon.

If that occurs, a wet track may lead the betting public to conclude there is another sure thing in backing Doyouknowsomething in the eighth race, a $69,000 second-level allowance with a $62,500 claiming condition. An 8-5 shot on the morning line, he figures to be even more popular with bettors if he catches the slop, a type of surface over which he defeated similar company at Belmont Park on Oct. 9 by 6 1/2 lengths. That performance earned him a 101 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest career-best figure posted by any of the six entrants.

Since splashing his way to victory that day, he has run competitively in defeat in three starts against classier at Aqueduct, finishing third in a higher-level optional claimer and fourth and second in two stakes. The two stakes losses came for his current connections, who claimed him for $80,000 on Nov. 12.

A 6-year-old gelding by Awesome Again, Doyouknowsomething has won 7 of 40 races and $490,880, by far the richest bankroll in the field. Entered for a $62,500 claiming price, he is favorably drawn on the outside in post 6 going a oneturn mile, positioned to dial up the heat on the front-runners to his inside.

He had the opposite trip on the inside when second most recently in the Jan. 20 Jazil Stakes, getting hounded on the lead from his inside post and run down by a nose in the closing strides. Angel Arroyo returns in the irons for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

Spieth, the second favorite at 3-1 morning-line odds and one of the principal speed horses, struggled in his only wet-track attempt, running sixth of seven in the mud at Belmont behind eventual Grade 1 winner Mo Town in September 2016. But that poor race may not be representative of his wet-track ability. He added Lasix and blinkers following that start and improved.

He is by an off-track sire in Bernardini and possesses a 440 wet-track Tomlinson rating, second-highest behind T R Crew, the 4-1 third favorite. The latter has won over a good track at Aqueduct in December, but has twice been unplaced in two races in the mud.

Very Very Stella and Tusk are wet-track winners among the three remaining horses in the lineup, while Daddy D T has never raced on anything but turf or a fast dirt surface.