Mary Eddy/NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Winning Move Stable’s graded stakes-placed Yo Daddy will look to continue his run of good form at the one-mile distance in Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Stymie for older horses at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The Stymie, slated as Race 6, is one of four stakes on Saturday’s lucrative Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham card, which features the one-turn mile test for sophomores that awards the top-five finishers 50-25-15-10-5 qualifying points towards the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby [Race 8]. Also featured are the Grade 3, $175,000 Tom Fool in Race 4 and the Listed $200,000 Busher, a 50-25-15-10-5 Kentucky Oaks qualifier, in Race 7. First post for the 10-race card is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.
Yo Daddy enters off a dominant local optional claiming victory on February 6 for trainer Linda Rice, and though he faced just two rivals that day, he gamely dueled with Tabeguache for the early lead before comfortably disposing of his rival and drawing clear to the five-length score under returning rider Kendrick Carmouche. He received a career-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.
“I’ve been really happy with him at the flat mile. He’s really matured, and I wasn’t sure if he was better around two turns or one, but he’s starting to look like he’s a better one-turn horse,” Rice said. “He’s run two really good one-turn mile races in a row, and he’s been a great claim as well.”
The 4-year-old son of Yoshida has won three of his last four starts, including a pair of neck triumphs here going one mile against optional claiming company on January 12 and nine-furlongs in a December 12 allowance. Claimed for $50,000 by Rice out of an April win at Keeneland, Yo Daddy boasts a 9-for-11 in-the-money record for his current connections, including a trio of placings on the turf led by a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Saranac in August at Saratoga Race Course.
YO DADDY battles for the win in the Aqueduct finale under @KendrickCarmou1 for @LindaRiceRacing! pic.twitter.com/EWEccW6lo9
— NYRA () (@TheNYRA) January 12, 2025
Rice said that Yo Daddy is proficient on both surfaces, but has proved more effective on dirt.
“I think he was ultimately a dirt horse all along,” Rice said. “Yoshida ran on both surfaces and a lot of the Yoshidas have run well on the grass. There were more 3-year-old opportunities on the turf than there was dirt, so we dabbled with the grass, but it’s clear to me that he’s really a dirt horse.”
Yo Daddy sold for $29,000 at the 2023 June OBS 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale and is out of the winning Tale of the Cat mare Elle Stormin’. He has banked $354,159 through a lifetime record of 18-6-4-4.
Carmouche rides from post 3.
LSU Stables’ New York-bred Bank Frenzy [post 5, Manny Franco] vies to double up on stakes victories after a last-out nose win under Manny Franco in the state-bred Alex M. Robb over course and distance on December 28.
Trained by Rudy Rodriguez, the Central Banker gelding notched his second lifetime stakes victory, adding to a 1 1/4-length coup of the state-bred Evan Shipman Handicap in August at Saratoga in his first start for Rodriguez. Bank Frenzy made his first nine outings for trainer Lisa Lewis before moving to Rodriguez, where he has finished first or second in five starts, including an additional optional claiming win in November and a runner-up effort in the nine-furlong state-bred Empire Classic in October here.
Bank Frenzy, bred by Chester and Mary Broman, was privately purchased and transferred to Rodriguez last summer. While he utilized pacesetting tactics to post open-length scores in two of his last three starts before the sale, the chestnut has since put forth strong performances from both well off the pace and close to it under Rodriguez’s tutelage.
“I like the mile for him, but I think even seven-eighths he could do,” Rodriguez said. “He’s just a nice, solid horse. He always tries hard and shows up. He’s come from behind and he has been the speed, so you love to see that for sure. He doesn’t really need to be anywhere. In the beginning when we got him, it looked like he wanted to be on the lead, but the more we run him, it looks like he can come from anywhere.”
Rodriguez said he was pleased with the gelding’s final breeze for the Stymie when covering a half-mile in 50.55 seconds Friday over the Belmont Park dirt training track.
“He had a nice work with Manny,” Rodriguez said. “We try to keep him fresh as we can. We were tempted to run him at seven-eighths, but we waited. He’s looking good.”
Trainer Jeff Runco’s graded stakes-winning West Virginia homebred Coastal Mission looks to rebound from a pair of fourth-place efforts in local stakes. The 6-year-old Great Notion gray was last seen finishing an even fourth in the seven-furlong Listed Toboggan on February 1 here.
Coastal Mission has made each of his last three outings at the Big A, including an elusive graded score in the one-mile Grade 3 Forty Niner in October. He went on to finish a closing fourth in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile presented by TwinSpires ahead of his Toboggan effort.
The consistent gelding boasts five additional stakes wins on his resume, which includes two other runner-up efforts in graded events last year. He has banked $1,132,153 through a 27-14-5-1 record.
Regular pilot Arnaldo Bocachica has the call from post 8.
John Holleman’s Grade 2-winning millionaire Law Professor [post 2, Jose Lezcano] is an Aqueduct aficionado, his local record standing at 9-5-1-2 with Listed stakes wins in the 2023 Queens County and Excelsior. His last start was an uncharacteristic fifth traveling nine furlongs on January 25 here in the first start of his 7-year-old campaign, finishing well behind returning rival Curbstone after stalking the pace and fading.
The son of Constitution earned a graded win in an off-the-turf edition of the Grade 2 Mathis Mile in 2021 at Santa Anita Park when in the care of conditioner Michael McCarthy. He moved to the Atras barn in mid-2022 and won that year’s Restricted Tapit on turf at Kentucky Downs in his first start for his current conditioner ahead of a valiant second to Life Is Good in the Grade 1 Woodward here.
Law Professor has banked $1,091,896 in earnings through a 26-9-2-4 record.
Completing the field are stakes-winner Concealed Carry [post 1, Luis Ocasio] for trainer Louis Linder, Jr.; Grade 3-placed Worcester [post 7, Sheldon Russell] for trainer Brittany Russell; stakes-placed Curbstone [post 6, Maddy Olver] for trainer Tom Morley; and the Jack Abrams-trained seven-time winner Winnin’onweekends [post 4, Ruben Silvera], who garnered a 101 Beyer for a last-out 14 1/4-length optional claiming romp going 10 furlongs on January 19 here.
