At the Gate - Wednesday
By Mike Dempsey
It is opening day of the Aqueduct fall/winter meeting on Wednesday, with the first stakes action coming up this weekend with the $200,000 Discovery Handicap (G3) for three-year-olds and a pair of one-mile juvenile events on Sunday: the $250,000 Nashua (G2) and the $250,000 Tempted (G3) for fillies.
Oh yeah, and then there is the Breeders’ Cup.
The Breeders’ Cup drew a record 174 entries (10 are also-eligibles) and we have 13 Grade 1 events with $26 million in purses up for grabs, and I do not see too many locks.
We lost Wise Dan and Beholder, but there are still five returning champions from last year- Goldencents (Dirt Mile), Dank (Filly & Mare Turf), Secret Circle (Xpressbet Sprint), and Magician (Longines Turf) are looking for repeats while Ria Antonia, last year’s Juvenile Fillies winner will look to win the Distaff this year.
The $5 million Classic will bring together Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome, Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist, the undefeated Shared Belief, and Haskell and Pennsylvania Derby winner Bayern.
All four of those contenders are three-year-olds, with a win wrapping up the Eclipse Award for top three-year-old and likely Horse of the Year honors.
The Classic also has several intriguing runners including the up and coming Cigar Street, the Chad Brown trained Zivo and Toast of New York, who makes his first start on conventional dirt.
Here is today’s opening race from Aqueduct to get the day off to a good start:
AQU Race 1 Md $40,000 (1:00 ET)
6 Mademoiselle Belle 5-2
7 Black Coronas 7-2
8 Betty Brown Nose 4-1
2 Samus 5-1
Analysis: Mademoiselle Belle showed some early zip in her debut, pressing the early pace before backing up and finishing fifth at Philly, sent off at 5-2 in a field of nine. She drops in for a tag here for the Breen barn that is 26% winners with second out maidens. She does not need to move forward all that much to get the job done here in the opener.
Black Coronas was beaten double-digit lengths in her first two starts, both on turf. Pedigree wise she might be better suited for dirt. She is by Curlin out of the stakes winner Two Coronas ($242,684) who did her best work on turf. She does drop into a weaker spot here tagged for $40,000 and she had a decent looking morning drill over the surface here on Oct. 6.
Wagering
WIN: #6 to win at 2-1 or better.
EX: 6,7 / 2,6,7,8
TRI: 6,7 / 2,6,7,8 / 2,3,6,7,8
Today’s Featured Race of the Day from Aqueduct:
AQU Race 7 OClm $62,500N2X (4:00 ET)
4 Glickman 9-2
6 Geaux Mets 10-1
5 Loki's Vengeance 6-1
1 Doubledown Again 5-1
Analysis: Glickman took the field gate to wire at Philly last out to won at this level and earned a career top speed fig in the effort. The gelding has run his three best numbers since the Jacobson barn claimed him for $30,000 three back. He owns a solid pace profile throughout with good early and mid pace numbers. He broke his maiden over the Big A main track back in '11. Looks capable of winning right back here in this spot.
Geaux Mets is also sent out by the Jacobson barn and the gelding is looking to bounce back after getting bumped coming out of the gate and checking in sixth at Belmont Park. The gelding had earned a career top two back winning the state bred Ontario County by 12 1/2 lengths at Finger Lakes. He broke his maiden over the main track here and is better than he showed last out, Looking for him to bounce back with a much better effort here.
Wagering
WIN: #4 to win at 7-2 or better.
EX: 4,6 / 1,4,5,6
TRI: 4,6 / 1,4,5,6 / 1,4,5,6,9
Live Longshots:
These are price plays for exotic players looking to find a couple of extra contenders to use in their trifecta and superfecta wagers. Or for those with smaller bankrolls, you might want to get in a small win-place wager.
Aqueduct
R6: #4 Cecil N Red 10-1
R6: #10 Dance With Gio 10-1
R7: #6 Geaux Mets 10-1
R8: #10 Fuhrious Warrior 12-1
Good luck today!
