Opportunity lost

Of course, the pick-six play detailed this morning along with the reasons for passing, paid $6,610.00. The forecast trailing storm failed to materialize and the track at Aqueduct, while it appeared to contain a good deal of residual moisture from heavy rain that fell through first light, was harrowed and very fast. Scratches in two “all” races reduced the size of the bet from $2,016 to $1,024. Five of six paid $74 and the ticket had 15 of those worth $1,100, which brings the total to $7,710. Who needs money?

With more than $900,000 bet in pursuit of a $265,874 carryover, the key to avoiding what would have been a much smaller payout was What’s Your Point beating odds-on Ghost Dancing in the eighth race and first-time starter Fast Wheels winning the finale at $15.80. Neither race in which the all button came into play produced mush. Dadoway paid $9 in the first leg, in which a gate scratched shifted tickets that included 9-2 It’s a Whopper to a very bad favorite, and scratches reduced the seventh race to four betting interests.

So, an opportunity is missed. You live with your decisions.

Mott considers options for Court Vision

While Pyro is set for this weekend’s Louisiana Derby and War Pass is destined for the Tampa Bay Derby, trainer Bill Mott is holding his cards close to the vest while considering the options for Court Vision, a pace compromised but fast-closing third in the Fountain of Youth Stakes last month at Gulfstream Park. Mott has three options under consideration between now and Kentucky Derby Day: The March 29 Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park, the April 5 Wood Memorial or the April 12 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

Mott: “We’ll wait and see how some of these other races play. We can make a case for any of those spots,” said Mott. “He’s won at Keeneland. He’s won at Aqueduct and he’s run well here. When we get closer to the middle of the month we will firm things up.”

Court Vision won the Iroquois Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs and the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct last year. He broke his maiden over Keeneland’s Polytrack surface in early October.

Gotham notes:

Roman Emperor has handled the jump to stakes company quite nicely, finishing third in the Count Fleet and a resolute second in the Whirlaway. On Saturday, he makes his graded stakes debut in 56th running of the $250,000 Gotham for three-year-olds at Aqueduct.

Trained by Steve Klesaris, the Fair Hill-based Roman Emperor will be ridden by jockey Jeremy Rose in the Gotham. “He’s doing very good and has been incredibly sharp in his training,” Klesaris said. “Obviously, this is going to be his stiffest test to date.” Roman Emperor, a colt by the 2003 Belmont Stakes and Wood Memorial winner Empire Maker, is 2-2-1 from five starts.

“He’s got the versatility, that’s for sure,” Klesaris said. “My only reservation is I wish we had races with more ground to run in. This colt is a true mile and a half horse. He’s really going to excel with the big distances.”

Klesaris says he toyed with the idea of sending Roman Emperor to Florida for the winter, but ultimately left him in Maryland at the Fair Hill Training Center. Few horses, whether based in New York or the mid-Atlantic region, missed training time this winter because of weather. Klesaris says he loves training his horses on Fair Hill’s synthetic Tapeta surface.

“It doesn’t matter what the weather is,” Klesaris said. “It can pour all night then snow three feet and you’ll be able to breeze over that Tapeta track the next morning with no problem. It doesn’t affect your training schedule and that’s one of the reasons we stayed up here for the winter.

By his own account, jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr. has gone winless in the Gotham four or five times. This time around, however, Arroyo feels the Gotham’s top prize will be his. He partners the Todd Pletcher-trained Texas Wildcatter, a colt by 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos who was third behind Barrier Reef and the aforementioned Roman Emperor in the Whirlaway February 2nd.

“I asked him about five or six times for run in the Whirlaway and he was there every single time,” Arroyo said. “He didn’t have a traffic-free trip in that race, but he gave me a bunch of different gears.”

Arroyo suggested that Pletcher and assistant trainer Seth Benzel equip Texas Wildcatter with blinkers for the Gotham. Apparently, the colt has been training regularly in blinkers over the last couple of weeks.

“I’ve talked to Seth and the exercise rider and they tell me he’s a lot more aggressive and 100 percent focused now,” Arroyo said. “Believe me, I’ve got so much confidence in this horse and I think the blinkers are going to take him to the next level. I know what I had underneath me in the Whirlaway.”

The Pletcher barn, which won the Gotham a year ago with Cowtown Cat, is also running Southern Terminus and Holidaze in this Gotham.

The Gotham will be a homecoming of sorts for Saratoga Russell, a Trippi colt who has won his last two races, one at Aqueduct the other at Gulfstream Park, by a combined 18 ¼ lengths. Saratoga Russell, who was based at Aqueduct during his two-year-old season, will try to show he is more than a speedy sprinter as he stretches out beyond six furlongs for the first time. Saratoga Russell enters the Gotham off a 10 ¾-length optional claiming victory at Gulfstream Park February 9.

“It looks like he’s built to handle two turns,” trainer Rick Violette said. “He’s out of a Theatrical mare, so hopefully all that will help him get two turns. His comeback race was good. The dynamics of the race put us on the lead. After scratches we were the inside speed from the one hole in the slop, so he just blasted off. I expect him to be up close in the Gotham, but it looks like there’s a lot of speed in the race. He flew to New York this morning and should be at the barn soon. Eibar Coa will ride.”


Jerkens bemoans lack of pace

Grand Champion schooled in the Gulfstream Park paddock and walking ring Monday afternoon while trainer Jimmy Jerkens watched in hope that someone can enliven up the pace for the five-year-old gelding in Saturday’s Richter Scale Sprint Handicap.

“Commentator will probably have an easy lead in there. If he gets [the first quarter-mile] in anything higher than 22 [seconds] you can kiss it good-bye,” Jerkens said. My horse never really breaks well [and] if Commentator can get out there on the lead, that’s where he’s going to win the race.”

Grand Champion had a two-race winning streak before faltering in his last start, the Mr. Prospector Handicap, scoring in Fall Highweight Handicap at Aqueduct and the Maryland Million Sprint Handicap at Laurel Park. He has used pace-pressing tactics to land three of his five career victories, but Jerkens is sure he doesn’t want to be the one sending his horse out to battle Commentator early in the Richter scale.

“Commentator breaks their hearts when he gets out there,” he said. “I think he runs his second quarter faster than his first quarter and it just breaks their hearts trying to chase a horse like that. It’s going to be awfully hard unless someone can go in there and grab him. There’s not much we can do. They don’t have gas pedals unfortunately.”

Aqueduct: March 6

Race 5: Bill Place