Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Contact: NYRA Press Office
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AQUEDUCT RACETRACK NOTES
· Schoolyard Dreams carries childhood hopes of owner
· Maiden filly departs
· Awesome Act tune-up Wednesday?
· Eskendereya, Munnings arrive Wednesday
· Carnivore eating up attention
· Carter a "litmus test" for Digger
· El Rocco ready to rock
· Cool N Collective retirement Saturday
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tampa Bay Derby runner-up Schoolyard Dreams comes into Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Racetrack carrying the, well, schoolyard dreams of owner Eric Fein.
"I grew up in Douglaston, about five minutes from
After breaking his maiden in November in his second start, Schoolyard Dreams began his sophomore campaign by winning an allowance race at
Saturday, he will gain the services of
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Nicky Boy, a maiden filly, departed
"We're planning to be there," said trainer Arnulfo Ascencio, who trains the daughter of Anziyan Royalty for Solange Chadda. "The owner is really excited about running her in the race."
Nicky Boy has started twice at
"It is very unusual," said Ascencio of the decision to run her in the Wood.
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Grade 3
"We'll wait and see how the track is in the morning," said Wayne Tanner, assistant to trainer Jeremy Noseda. "If he doesn't breeze, he'll just gallop into the race. He's fit and doing well. He's feeling the joyous spring."
Since his Gotham victory, which marked his first start on dirt, the English import has breezed twice over
Noseda will arrive in
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Grade 2 Fountain of Youth winner Eskendereya, the likely favorite for Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial, and stablemate Munnings, aiming for the Grade 1 Carter, are scheduled to arrive at trainer Todd Pletcher's Belmont Park barn tomorrow.
Eskendereya, who comes into the Wood off an 8½-length victory in the 1 1/8th mile Fountain of Youth, had his final serious move for the race last Saturday at Palm Meadows, covering five furlongs in 1:00.60, handily.
"He went very well," said Pletcher of the work.
Eskendereya, owned by Zayat Stables, is named for an Egyptian dance. According to Keti Sharif's Bellydance Glossary of Middle Eastern Dance Terminologies, an eskendereya is a "flirty Alexandrian dance with a milaya, or heavy veil, formerly used as a fashion accessory in the 40s."
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Carnivore, seven-length maiden winner at Laurel on March 10, is taking a big step up in Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial but owner James McIngvale is hoping the son of Giant's Causeway is up to the task.
"We're all excited about the race," said McIngvale by phone from
McIngvale's only other Wood Memorial starter was the Bob Baffert-trained Consecrate, who finished ninth behind Tapit in 2004.
Purchased for $280,000 at the Ocala Breeders'
"My friends in the military are all carnivores," he explained.
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For Repole Stable's 6-year-old Digger, Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Carter will serve as something of an assessment, helping his connections to map out plans for the rest of the year.
Since arriving in trainer Bruce Brown's barn late in 2009, Digger has demonstrated his abilities, stringing together two wins, one second, and one third-place finish from four starts, three of them in stakes company. After running third in a starter handicap at Aqueduct on October 28, the gelding won his second start for Brown in the Gravesend Handicap at the Big A on December 26.
Despite Digger's solid record, Brown admits he's not an easy horse to handle.
"He's liable to do anything and he doesn't like to be messed with much," Brown said. "We've got a good routine going as far as his training is concerned and he has gotten better, but he's not one where you want to change the way you do things too much."
Digger, a Maryland-bred son of Yonaguska, has had some time off since a second-place finish in the Grade 2 General George Handicap at Laurel Park on February 15, and Brown believes the break will put the gelding in the right place to move forward.
"It looks like a very, very high quality field in the Carter. For us, we gave him kind of a breather after the race at Laurel, so now we'll decide off this race what we're planning for the rest of the year, whether he's really going to step up his game and be a top sprinter and we stay in New York, or if we're going to have travel around and pick our spots in some of the smaller stakes. We'll just see how he stacks up and where he should be."
Digger breezed five furlongs over the training track at
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Trainer Bruce Levine said he has a hard time figuring out how his 3-year-old colt El Rocco is doing but is happy the bay son of Vicar has shown up ready to run so far in every race he has been in. El Rocco, a
"He's not a good work horse," Levine said. He leaves you hanging a little bit, so you don't know where you're at with him."
El Rocco has won two of seven starts and finished third last September in the Grade 3 Sapling as a 2-year-old at Monmouth. Levine said the colt "might have been more precocious, a little more advanced than others," but he also opened his 3-year-old season well.
Despite clipping heels with another horse in his comeback race January 19 at
"It's a big step up from where he's coming from," Levine said of going from an entry-level allowance to the Bay Shore, "But he's doing all right."
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Repole Stable's 13-year-old Cool N Collective will be officially retired on Wood Memorial Day, parading in front of the stands before the 6th race as part of a special on-track ceremony. In conjunction with his retirement, in order to raise awareness for and benefit horse rescue and retirement organizations, Mike Repole and The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) are donating a total of $30,000 to Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, and the Exceller Fund. Additionally, owner Harold Lerner has donated $1,000 to the Exceller Fund. All three organizations will be at Aqueduct Saturday, collecting donations to support their thoroughbred rescue and retirement operations.
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