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Gotham: O’Neill-Trained Wipe The Slate ‘Much More Calm And Relaxed’

West Coast-based Freedom Fighter and Wipe the Slate, top contenders for Saturday's Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham at Aqueduct Racetrack, arrived in New York from their southern California base at Santa Anita Park on Wednesday and visited the Belmont Park dirt training track Thursday morning.

A loaded Saturday card at Aqueduct features the Gotham, a one-turn mile that provides 50-20-10-5 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers; the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap, a six-furlong sprint for older horses; the $250,000 Busher Invitational for 3-year-old fillies offering 50-20-10-5 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points; and the $125,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational, a one-turn mile for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Freedom Fighter, stabled with trainer John Terranova, went out to the training track at 9:30 a.m. with exercise rider Simon Harris aboard while under the watchful eye of Terranova's wife and assistant, Tonja.

Terranova said fellow Baffert trainee Speed Pass, entered in the Tom Fool on the Gotham undercard, was out for exercise at 7:30 a.m.

“They just cruised around the track,” Tonja Terranova said. “They both looked great. Simon was happy with how they went and both of them ate up real well last night.”

A son of Violence, Freedom Fighter will see some added distance in the one-turn mile Gotham off a close second to stablemate Concert Tour in the Grade 2 San Vicente at seven furlongs at Santa Anita. The runner-up effort, which garnered a 94 Beyer Speed Figure, was his first start off a six-month layoff after a successful debut going gate-to-wire on August 1 at Del Mar.

Freedom Fighter is owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Golconda Stables, Siena Farm and Robert Masterson and was bought for $120,000 from the 2019 Keeneland September Sale.

Manny Franco will pilot Freedom Fighter from post 7 in a field of eight.

Speed Pass, owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, arrives at the Tom Fool – a six-furlong sprint for older horses – off a close third as the lukewarm favorite in an allowance optional claiming race on January 31 at Santa Anita, which was his first start in nearly a full calendar year.

A two-time winner at three-quarters of a mile, the son of Bodemeister was third in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes last January at Santa Anita and seeks his first trip to the winner's circle since defeating winners at Los Alamitos by seven lengths over a good and sealed track.

Trainer Doug O'Neill, who was nominated to the Hall of Fame this year, shipped Wipe the Slate for the Gotham. The chestnut son of second-crop sire Nyquist went to the training track at 10:00 a.m. for O'Neill's assistant Daniel Robles.

“Perfect, really good,” Robles said of the morning exercise. “I think we have a pretty good chance.”

Wipe the Slate was last out a distant sixth to Medina Spirit in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis on February 6 at Santa Anita going 1 1/16 miles and cuts back to one turn for the Gotham.

“That was a bad day for him, but he's come along well,” Robles said. “Going back to one turn should be good for him. That day, he was real nervous, but this time he seems much more calm and relaxed.”

Second to highly regarded Life Is Good on debut, Wipe the Slate broke his maiden in his following effort on December 26 at Santa Anita. He will take blinkers off for Saturday's race and will be ridden from post 4 by Aqueduct leading rider Kendrick Carmouche.

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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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Juvenile Runner-Up Hot Rod Charlie Revved Up For Lewis Stakes

Hot Rod Charlie may not win Santa Anita's Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Jan. 30, but one thing's for sure: he won't be 94-1.

He was dismissed at those boxcar odds in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Nov. 6 at Keeneland but outran them big time when beaten just three-quarters of a length by undefeated Essential Quality, who is expected to be crowned Eclipse Award king as outstanding two-year-old male on Jan. 28.

The Lewis is an early West Coast steppingstone to the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby April 3, and beyond that the Kentucky Derby. Decided at a mile and one-sixteenth, it offers 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner, four to the second-place finisher, two to the third horse and one to the fourth.

Doug O'Neill trains Hot Rod Charlie and another Lewis contender, Wipe the Slate, for principal client J. Paul Reddam who capitalized on the Lewis in 2012 as a successful conduit to victory in the Run for the Roses with I'll Have Another.

Wipe the Slate was an impressive maiden winner by 3 ¼ lengths under Team O'Neill mainstay Mario Gutierrez going seven furlongs in 1:23.42 on Dec. 26. O'Neill also has well-regarded maiden The Great One entered in Saturday's second race for non-winners at one mile.

A bay son of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, The Great One was second by a nose at 33-1 to Spielberg in the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity last Dec. 19 and gets Lasix for the first time Saturday. He is Jon White's 7-5 morning line favorite in a field of five.

Joel Rosario rides Hot Rod Charlie in the Lewis, while Gutierrez, who won the Kentucky Derby for Reddam and O'Neill with I'll Have Another and Nyquist, returns on Wipe the Slate.

Hot Rod Charlie and Wipe the Slate each worked six furlongs Friday, the former going in 1:16.60 and the latter in a bullet 1:12.60, fastest of 13 drills at the distance.

“Both worked fantastic,” O'Neill said. Amir Cedeno was aboard Hot Rod Charlie while Gutierrez rode Wipe the Slate.

Hot Rod Charlie is listed at 30-1 in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wagering, while Wipe the Slate is last at 50-1 among individual horses. Unbeaten Bob Baffert trainee Life Is Good is the individual favorite at 6-1, while the category of “All Other 3-Year-Olds” is favored at 9-5.

“You can't win if you're not in, so we're hoping to win with at least one of our horses, and in a dream world, all three,” O'Neill said.

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GISP Hot Rod Charlie Works for O’Neill; Targets Lewis

Already a winner of the GI Kentucky Derby with 2016 hero Nyquist (Uncle Mo) and I’ll Have Another (Flower Alley) in 2012, trainer Doug O’Neill is looking forward to the New Year with Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), Wipe the Slate (Nyquist) and Team Merchants (Nyquist) among his well-regarded sophomores.

Hot Rod Charlie worked five furlongs at Santa Anita Saturday in a bullet :59.40, fastest of 64 drills at the distance. A narrow winner in his fourth career start at Santa Anita on October, Hot Rod Charlie closed to finish second-at whopping odds of 94-1–behind likely 2020 2-year-old male Eclipse champion Essential Quality (Tapit) in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Nov. 6.

“Hot Rod Charlie is doing great and we’re pointing him to the [GIII] Bob Lewis S.,” said O’Neill, referring to the Robert B. Lewis S. at a mile and a sixteenth Jan. 30.

The Lewis, first run in 1935 as the Santa Catalina S., offers 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner, four to the runner-up, two to the third-place finisher and one to the fourth.

A son of O’Neill’s former pupil Nyquist, Wipe the Slate also worked Saturday, covering five furlongs in 1:01.20. Wearing blinkers for the first time, Wipe the Slate scored an impressive maiden win Dec. 26 at Santa Anita after finishing second in his debut to undefeated Sham S. winner and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Life Is Good (Into Mischief) at Del Mar Nov. 22.

“Wipe the Slate is doing super, but I’m not sure where he’s going to blend in after that win,” O’Neill said. “It’s been two weeks, so we really haven’t pointed him to the next spot.

Also a son of the 2015 champion juvenile colt, Team Merchants won at second asking at Saratoga Sept. 7 after being fractious in the gate.

“Team Merchants had a little injury, so he’s at the farm until he’s 100%,” O’Neill added, alluding to principal owner J. Paul Reddam’s Ocean Breeze Ranch in Bonsall.

Reddam Racing owned both of O’Neill’s Derby winners and the team also combined to take the Lewis with Great Hunter in 2007 and I’ll Have Another in 2012.

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