Slider scoring in the Speakeasy at Santa Anita in October 2023. (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Aqueduct Racetrack Notes
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hall Racing, Pearl Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds’ Grade 2-placed Slider will likely make his first trip outside of California for Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham, a one-turn mile for sophomores, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The Gotham is one of four stakes slated for Saturday at the Big A and awards the top-five finishers 50-25-15-10-5 qualifying points towards the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby.
Trained by John Sadler, Slider posted a sharp five-furlong work in 59 seconds flat this morning at Santa Anita Park. The Jimmy Creed colt looks to make his second start of the year after a good third-place effort in the Grade 2 San Vicente on January 6 at the Arcadia oval.
Sadler said he was pleased with the effort from Slider this morning.
“He worked very well,” said Sadler. “He ended up catching a couple horses that broke off in front of him, but for me, it was more about how he galloped out since this will be the furthest he’s ever run. If he looks good tomorrow, he gets on a plane early Tuesday to be there Tuesday afternoon to run Saturday.”
Sadler added the timing of the Gotham is a good reason to send the colt on the 2,792-mile journey from Santa Anita to Ozone Park.
“The spacing is good from his last race and we like a one-turn mile with him, so there’s a lot of things to like for him [in the Gotham],” said Sadler.
Slider has made each of his five outings at sprint distances and has won on both dirt and turf. He graduated at second asking in a 5 1/2-furlong dirt sprint in September at Del Mar ahead of a 1 1/4-length score in the five-furlong Speakeasy over the Santa Anita green. He completed his juvenile campaign with an off-the-board finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint where he was defeated 3 1/4 lengths en route to his return to dirt in the San Vicente to kick off his sophomore season.
Jose Lezcano, who won last year’s Gotham aboard Raise Cain, will pick up the mount on Saturday.
Sadler had also nominated the graded stakes-placed Scatify and the New York-bred Tapalo to the Gotham and said both horses are now aiming for other Kentucky Derby preps.
West Point Thoroughbreds’ Scatify was last seen finishing a pacesetting third in the one-mile Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis on February 3 at Santa Anita where he was defeated 8 1/4 lengths to the highly-regarded Nysos and edged out of place honors by Wine Me Up. Scatify made his first start against winners in the Lewis off a determined half-length victory sprinting six-furlongs on debut in December at Los Alamitos.
Sadler said he will consider either the Grade 2 San Felipe on Saturday at Santa Anita or the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 9 – both contested at 1 1/16-miles – for the Justify chestnut.
“He might be looking at the San Felipe or the Tampa Bay Derby,” said Sadler. “We were anxious to get him started and he was a little later getting to me than some of the other ones. We were pleasantly happy with his first race and missed a little time before the Bob Lewis. He wasn’t going to beat the winner that day, but I think if things had gone a little differently, he could have been second.”
Hronis Racing’s Tapalo finished a prominent second last out in the nine-furlong El Camino Real Derby on February 10 at Golden Gate Fields where he was defeated 1 1/4 lengths by Endlessly. The son of Tapiture, bred by Saratoga Glen Farm, graduated at fourth asking in a January maiden optional claiming tilt sprinting seven furlongs at Santa Anita ahead of his first try on synthetic in in the El Camino Real.
Sadler said he is considering the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 23 at Turfway Park for Tapalo.
“Tapalo will probably go to the Jeff Ruby,” said Sadler. “That was synthetic at Golden Gate and he ran a really nice race up there. I think he’s a developing horse and it was a close race. He’s progressing.”
