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‘Maturing’ Capo Kane Cuts Back To One-Turn Mile For Gotham

Bing Cherry Racing and Leonard Liberto's Capo Kane, a pace-setting third last out in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Withers, turns back to a one-turn mile in Saturday's Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct.

Trainer Harold Wyner put Capo Kane through a smart training session on Feb. 26 at Parx with the California-bred working behind a pair of horses before circling his company and completing the five-eighths breeze in 1:00.21.

“He worked real well. We had two horses set off in front of him and he sat behind them and got the dirt in his face and passed them. He finished off his work real strong,” said Wyner. “I know there's going to be a lot of speed in the Gotham and I don't think he needs to be on the lead.”

Wyner said Capo Kane, who has demonstrated a tendency to drift out during the stretch run, completed his work straight as an arrow.

“In his work the other day, he didn't drift out one little bit,” said Wyner. “He stayed right where he should be and went around the horses nicely and didn't drift at all. He's maturing. He's a lot bigger and wider now.”

The Street Sense colt picked up 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points on New Year's Day when taking the one-mile Jerome. He added two additional qualifying points for his Withers effort and currently sits in 11th position in the standings with 12 points.

Wyner said the connections will consider a start in the Kentucky Derby if the $26,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds-In Training sale purchase posts a strong effort on Saturday with 50-20-10-5 qualifying points on the line.

“I still think this horse will get the mile and an eighth and the mile and a quarter,” said Wyner. “If he runs real well in the Gotham, I'm almost forced to try him in the Wood Memorial going a mile and an eighth [on April 6] to see if he'll get the distance because if he doesn't there won't be any point going to the Derby. The timing is close so we'll have to see how he runs in the Gotham and go from there.”

Capo Kane ran second on debut in October at Parx going seven furlongs and capped his juvenile year with a maiden-breaking 4 1/2-length score on Nov. 25 at the same track stretched out to a mile and 70 yards.

Capo Kane won his first stakes start – and sophomore bow – in gate-to-wire fashion, besting a five-horse Jerome field by 6 1/4 lengths, garnering a personal-best 84 Beyer.

Wyner said Capo Kane will ship to New York on the day of the race with jockey Dylan Davis to retain the mount.

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O’Neill Believes Distance Should Help Wipe The Slate In Saturday’s Gotham

Navigating the competitive Kentucky Derby trail will force any 3-year-old to eventually branch beyond an established comfort zone, as steeper competition, expanded race distances and more extensive travel becomes necessary as the first Saturday in May approaches.

Reddam Racing's Wipe the Slate will look to embrace those challenges, shipping across the country from his base at Santa Anita in California to compete in Saturday's Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The one-turn mile will offer 50-20-10-5 Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers and will mark Wipe the Slate's first race outside of the Golden State. The Doug O'Neill trainee ran second in his debut going 6 1/2 furlongs on Nov. 22 at Del Mar before breaking his maiden with an impressive 3 ¼-length score in a seven-furlong sprint on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita to cap his juvenile campaign.

Making his sophomore – and graded stakes debut – Wipe the Slate was stretched out to 1 1/16 miles for his first career route. After bumping a rival, he underwent a wide trip before tiring late, finishing sixth in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis on Jan. 30 at Santa Anita.

Wipe the Slate has continued to train forwardly since that effort, including a six-furlong work in 1:11.60 on Saturday over the Santa Anita main track. A son of Nyquist, O'Neill's 2016 Kentucky Derby winner, Wipe the Slate will look to benefit from a five-week gap between starts. O'Neill said he expects the Kentucky-bred to handle shipping to the Empire State with aplomb and likes how cutting back to a mile could play to his strength.

“He's always been an impressive colt,” said O'Neill. “I think he'll travel well and I love the one-turn mile for him. We're excited for days ahead.”

O'Neill said Kendrick Carmouche, the current Aqueduct winter meet-leading rider, will pick up the mount for the Gotham.

The Gotham, which will have its 69th running this coming weekend, has historical strong connections to the “Run for the Roses,” with Secretariat winning it in 1973, tying the track record in an effort that helped propel him to one of the most famous Triple Crown runs in the sport's history. Other highlights include Easy Goer setting a track record in the 1989 edition, setting a mark of 1:32.40 that still stands.

While both Secretariat and Easy Goer are Hall of Famers, O'Neill has the potential to join them among the inductees, as the veteran conditioner was named one of 11 finalists for the 2021 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame class on Wednesday.

O'Neill, primarily based in California, is one of three trainers among the finalists, along with NYRA mainstays Todd Pletcher and Christophe Clement. The 52-year-old O'Neill is a two-time Derby winner in tandem with Reddam Racing, saddling I'll Have Another [who also won the Preakness] in 2012 and following four years later with Nyquist, who ran third in the 2016 Preakness.

O'Neill, who trained his first winner in 1989, has five Breeders' Cup victories to his credit, bolstering a strong resume that features more than 2,500 career wins, including 132 graded stakes. Among his other notable winners was Hall of Famer Lava Man, who won the Hollywood Gold Cup three times and twice both the Santa Anita Handicap and Pacific Classic. Five of his horses have won Eclipse Awards. In addition to his dozens of stakes victories in this country, O'Neill has also tallied international victories in the Godolphin Mile and Japan Cup Dirt.

“The Hall of Fame nomination is a result of working alongside a bunch of amazing horsemen and amazing owners and, of course, amazing horses,” said O'Neill.

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Stymie Gives New York-Bred Mr. Buff 11th Career Stakes Score

New York-bred legend Mr. Buff tallied another stakes win, commanding a swift pace on the front end and holding on for victory against Limonite's late confrontation in Saturday's 65th running of the $125,000 Stymie at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

A Chester and Mary Broman homebred, Mr. Buff arrived at the open company one-turn mile for older horses off his third straight win in the Jazil going nine furlongs at the Big A. The John Kimmel trained son of Friend Or Foe owns triumphs in multiple New York-bred stakes events for older dirt horses on the NYRA circuit including the Alex M. Robb, the Empire Classic, the Evan Shipman, the Saginaw and the Haynesfield, which he won last February by an astounding 20 lengths.

Mr. Buff was asked from the gate by jockey Manny Franco and established a one-length lead ahead of Alwaysmining and Musical Heart to mark the opening quarter-mile in 22.96 seconds over a sloppy and sealed main track.

Alwaysmining dropped out of contention approaching the turn with the half-mile in 45.51, leaving Mr. Buff and Musical Heart alone on the front end. Franco remained relaxed aboard Mr. Buff as Dylan Davis asked Musical Heart for more run through the turn.

Franco gave Mr. Buff his cue at the quarter pole with a stubborn Musical Heart 2 ½ lengths back in second. The pair continued to race one-two a sixteenth out from the wire, as Limonite launched a furious late bid on the far outside from the four-path. Class prevailed in the end as Mr. Buff held on for a half-length victory in a final time of 1:36.97. It was another half-length back to Musical Heart in third.

Tintoretto and Alwaysmining completed the order of finish.

Mr. Buff registered his 11th career stakes win and added $68,750 to his already lucrative bankroll, which now stands at $1,364,536 through a 44-17-8-4 career. A stakes winner at all three NYRA circuit tracks, Mr. Buff has displayed quite the affinity for Aqueduct with a consistent 17-10-4-0 record.

Franco said he wanted to establish a good early tempo.

“I wanted to make sure I broke out of there running,” Franco said. “The two horse [Musical Heart] kept pushing my horse and I know my horse can rate but I just wanted to let him do his thing. When I got to the front, I was happy, and I know that's the way he likes to run.

“He's got a big stride and he just outrun the other horses,” Franco added. “The last sixteenth I felt he was tiring, but I know he went pretty quick the first part, and that was my plan.”

Jockey Eric Cancel, aboard runner-up Limonite, said he was pleased with his horse's late-charging effort.

“They were putting in a pretty decent pace at the beginning. It was a little quick for my horse to keep him up close,” Cancel said. “But my horse, at the end, gave me all that he had, and we almost got there. He tried. He doesn't have any problems in the slop, hopefully he keeps on improving.”

The Amira Chichakly-trained runner-up also pleased his co-owner Brian Novak, who claimed the 5-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid two starts back for $40,000. Limonite entered the Stymie from a five-length optional-claiming win on February 8 at the Big A.

“For a $40,000 claimer, he seems like a completely different horse,” Novak said. “We almost won this one, if he wasn't so far out. The speed was just a little much for him. But I'd like to see his Beyer [Speed Figure] after this one.”

Bred in the Empire State by his owners, Mr. Buff is out of the graded stakes-placed Speightstown mare Speightful Affair. He paid $3.40 to win.

Live racing resumes Sunday at Aqueduct with an eight-race card. First post is 1:20 p.m. Eastern.

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Monomoy Girl’s Return Anchors Sunday Edition Of Cross Country Pick 5

The return of Champion Older Dirt Female Monomoy Girl in the Grade 3 Bayakoa from Oaklawn Park anchors Sunday's Cross Country Pick 5, hosted by the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA), featuring racing action from the Hot Springs, Arkansas-based oval and Aqueduct Racetrack.

Live coverage will be available with America's Day at the Races on FOX Sports. Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence are now available for download at https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/cross-country-wagers.

The sequence begins in Race 7 at Aqueduct (4:25 p.m. Eastern) with a seven-furlong allowance optional claiming race for older horses. Dennis Drazin's multiple graded stakes winning veteran Sunny Ridge, winner of the Grade 3 Withers in 2016, will try to make amends in his second start off a 12 ½-month layoff on February 4 when finishing a distant fourth. Trainer James Ferraro sends out Letmetakethiscall, who puts a three-race win streak on the line when facing colts.

Eight sophomore fillies assemble for the $150,000 Dixie Belle going six furlongs at Oaklawn Park [Race 6, 4:39 p.m.]. Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen will saddle Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's Abrogate, who defeated winners at the same track on January 24 after a career debut victory on November 12 at Churchill Downs. The daughter of Uncle Mo is out of the Burning Roma mare Hot Coffee and is from the same family as 2010 Champion Sprinter Big Drama as well as Grade 1-winner Sheer Drama. Fox Hill Farm's Windmill will attempt to replicate her gate-to-wire four-length maiden victory for trainer Larry Jones.

Action moves back to New York for the middle leg of the sequence, where West Point Thoroughbreds' Black 'n Tan sports blinkers and takes a drop in class for a $20,000 tag in a six-furlong maiden claiming race. The Asmussen-trained son of Elusive Quality last raced for a $40,000 tag and makes his fourth lifetime start. Ask Neal, who previously raced against stakes-placed Overtook and Return the Ring in maiden special weight events, will drop to his lowest level yet for trainer John Toscano, Jr. Carded as the finale of the Big A's eight-race card, the middle leg will have a post of 4:55 p.m.

A field of a dozen Arkansas-bred fillies and mares assemble for the $100,000 Downthedustyroad Breeders' [Race 8, 5:41 p.m.] and is headlined by Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's defending champion Bye Bye J. The daughter of Uncaptured takes blinkers off for Asmussen as she targets her fifth stakes victory. Shortleaf Stable's The Mary Rose attempts two straight wins after winning a six-furlong allowance on January 30 at Oaklawn Park.

Closing out the sequence is the anticipated return of two-time champion Monomoy Girl in the Grade 3, $250,000 Bayakoa going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park. Trained by Brad Cox and owned by B. Wayne Hughes' Spendthrift Farm, MyRacehorse Stable, and Madaket Stable, Monomoy Girl has put together a career ledger of 15-13-2-0, comprising of seven Grade 1 victories across four different racetracks and over $4.4 million in earnings. The daughter of Tapizar won two non-consecutive editions of the Breeders' Cup Distaff capturing the 2018 running to seal up Champion 3-Year-Old Filly honors. She did the same when taking last year's Distaff at Keeneland and was subsequently named Champion Older Dirt Female. The Bayakoa will go off as Race 9 at Oaklawn Park with a 6:11 p.m. post.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool. The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Sunday February 28:
Leg A: Aqueduct – Race 7 (4:25 p.m.)
Leg B: Oaklawn – Race 6, $150,000 Dixie Belle (4:39 p.m.)
Leg C: Aqueduct – Race 8 (4:55 p.m.)
Leg D: Oaklawn – Race 8, $150,000 Downthedustyroad Breeders' (5:41 p.m.)
Leg E: Oaklawn – Race 9, Grade 3, $250,000 Bayakoa (6:11 p.m.)

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