Week 1 begins at Aqueduct, Friday 11/21/2025
Kevin Gazzale
Week 1 of my journey starts with a $20 feeder qualifier at Aqueduct, races 2-9. For those of you that don’t know, you select one horse per race for a mythical $2 WP wager. Looks like decent weather, decent field sizes, and they’ll be on the turf so lets jump in.
Race 2 – Give me 5 Zuby at 2/1, lots of speed signed on, she appears to be comfortable sitting off the pace slightly and should be able to get into the top 2 at a minimum.
Race 3 – 1 Midnight Glimmer gets a trainer switch who could create a forward move, first start in 6 months, good regularly spaced works, well-bred though probably prefers turf but let’s take a shot at 6/1.
Race 4 – 5 Emirates Road, consistent figures, good trainer/jock combo, highest current class on Brisnet, has gone the distance before and ran well, 7/2 is suitable.
Race 5 – 6 Whiskey Runner, field of 8 MC30k, 4 are first time starters, ML fav is listed 4/5, lets take a shot at 9/2, Weaver has him running decent works, spaced well.
Race 6 – 6 Diliello, Morley 2nd off the claim, horse has good figures, trip line notes he is more of a late runner clunking up for 3rd, recent steady 3F works which is relatively new for this horse, chance we see them more up front today and could get the jump sitting closer. 7/2 we’ll take it.
Race 7 – 9 Another Cleeshay, you’ll always get a spirited ride from Christopher Elliot, you can at least count on that. Likes to come from off of it, a little a bit of speed signed on and the other pressers/closers don’t scare me. Favorite 3 Sassy Princess looks like she wants turf. Give me the 9 at a price who won last time out at this distance at this level. 2nd race off a 2-month layoff, continues solid regularly spaced works.
Race 8 – 7 Lika Rolling Stone, time rolls on and that’s exactly what I expect in this one, again lots of speed signed on and most of it is cutting back from longer. I usually try to avoid those horses because to me those front runners at 9F and beyond lose their stamina advantage over other horses going shorter. Last time out with Elliot on board he had this horse sitting closer which I think he’ll do again, 3F bullet work just last week makes me think she’ll be ready to roll.
Race 9 – 2 Nonno Joe, 2nd try after a year plus layoff, come back race was decent, after that race went straight back to the work tab and is in again, either the owners want this horse gone yesterday or they think he’s ready to run. Almost all of the front-end speed in here is stretching out from 6f which will be difficult to overcome and wire the field. 8 Before the Wind is a decent fav with decent figures but I can’t pretend to have a good opinion if I’m taking 2-1 from a trainer who has 83 starts in 2025 in a MC50k night cap at Aqueduct in November, are you nuts? Give me Manny/Rudy at 6/1 and I can start preparing for Saturday’s qualifier.
Thanks for reading!
