Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
AQUEDUCT Le General in no rush to make stakes debut
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Le General, an impressive New York-bred allowance winner here on Dec. 9, was conspicuous by his absence from the nominations for Monday’s $100,000 Damon Runyon Stakes for 2-year-old statebreds and Tuesday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes for newly turned 3-year-olds.
Trainer Michelle Nevin said there is nothing amiss with Le General, she just didn’t want to run him back too soon after he posted blowout victories three weeks apart this fall.
“We’re just giving him some time to bulk back up and get ready to go,” Nevin said Friday.
Le General, a son of Lemon Drop Kid, finished second at Belmont in June in his debut. Nevin felt the colt would benefit from some time off, and she was right, as Le General returned with a 6 3/4-length maiden win going six furlongs at Aqueduct on Nov. 17. Twenty-two days later, he successfully stretched out to a mile, winning a firstlevel allowance by 3 1/4 lengths. His last two starts produced Beyer Speed Figures of 85 and 86.
Nevin will have plenty of options for Le General when she and owners Jeffrey Kellenberg, Sol Kumin, and James Covello sit down to map out a plan. Le General could fit in the $250,000 Withers Stakes going 1 1/8 miles here on Feb. 2 or the $150,000 Jimmy Winkfield going seven furlongs on Feb. 2.
“We’re not deciding anything for him right now,” Nevin said. “We’ll see how we go trainingwise and then make a decision.”
Moretti points to Withers
Moretti, the $900,000 yearling purchase who won a 1 1/8-mile maiden race at Aqueduct on Dec. 20, will stay in New York for the time being and point to the Grade 3 Withers, his connections said Friday.
Aron Wellman, president of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, which owns Moretti with Mike Repole, said the Withers makes the most sense in terms of timing and distance. Moretti, trained by Todd Pletcher, still showed signs of immaturity while winning his maiden in his second start. In upper stretch, he veered out from John Velazquez’s left-handed whip, then veered back in, yet still won by 3 1/4 lengths.
“He’s a horse that’s always been hinting that two turns is what he really wanted,” Wellman said. “We’re glad to see distance does not appear to be any problem for him whatsoever. He was tactically into the race, put the race away early in the stretch, and sort of goofed around from there. At this point, to have a mile-and-aneighth, two-turn race before Jan. 1 is ideal foundation for the distance we want to get him to. Now, it’s a matter of fine-tuning some of those baby idiosyncrasies that he definitely still has.”
Moretti, a son of Medaglia d’Oro and a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Battle of Midway, has a similar profile to Marconi, a Pletcher-trained horse who won his maiden going 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct in December 2017 and finished third in this year’s Withers before running sixth in the Fountain of Youth and eighth in the Blue Grass.
Recruiting Ready eyes Oaklawn
Recruiting Ready, who won last Sunday’s Gravesend Stakes at Aqueduct, could make his next start at Oaklawn Park, trainer Stanley Hough said Friday.
Hough said Recruiting Ready would be pointed to races at six furlongs, and Oaklawn has three such stakes events: the $100,000 King Cotton on Feb. 9, the $150,000 Hot Springs on March 9, and the Grade 3, $400,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on April 13. Recruiting Ready won the Bachelor Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths at Oaklawn last April.
Hough didn’t rule out the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap at Aqueduct on March 9 for Recruiting Ready.
Recruiting Ready returned from a six-month layoff with a head victory over Skyler’s Scramjet in the Gravesend. He ran six furlongs in 1:10.52 and earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure.
Hough said Recruiting Ready was coming off surgery to repair a cannon-bone fracture.
“We were very happy with his race,” said Hough, who noted that Recruiting Ready was due to arrive at Palm Meadows on Friday. “So far, he’s come out of it good.”
Hough, who retired from training in 2012, has taken over the conditioning of about 15 horses owned by Sagamore Farm. Hough, based in South Florida, said his objective is to develop some young horses early this year and send them to other trainers “where they fit.’’