Aqueduct Racetrack Notes 4.8.17

by NYRA Press Office

• Derby-bound Irish War Cry in good shape after G2 Wood Memorial win

• Miss Sky Warrior on track for Oaks following G2 Gazelle romp

• Grant still riding high after Green Gratto's G1 Carter win

• Webster, NY resident Harrison takes Wood Memorial Handicapping Challenge

Isabelle de Tomaso's Irish War Cry has settled back into his Fair Hill base in good condition following his victory in Saturday's Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial, according to trainer Graham Motion.

"He seems good this morning," he said by phone on Sunday. "He's obviously a little tired. It was a long day, shipping back last night and everything. He didn't eat up everything last night, but otherwise he seems absolutely fine. He's perky and looks nice."

A New Jersey-bred colt by Curlin, Irish War Cry started his career 3-for-3 before a seventh-place finish in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth March 4 at Gulfstream Park. Irish War Cry was able to rebound in the Wood, however, with a 3 ½-length score under jockey Rajiv Maragh at Aqueduct Racetrack and earned his spot in the Kentucky Derby starting gate on May 6 at Churchill Downs.

"Things pretty much went as we hoped they would go," said Motion. "He settled just off the pace and I guess I was a bit concerned on the backside because he kind of moved up quite early to the leader and, from what Rajiv told me, he felt like he had so much horse underneath him. My big question for him was how he thought about how he won, and he said he felt like he did it pretty comfortably really. 

"He said he did everything he wanted him to do, that he could have put him anywhere in the race that he wanted and that was the kind of feedback I needed to hear."

Motion, who won the 2011 Derby with Animal Kingdom, noted that Irish War Cry is likely to complete his major preparations for the Derby at the Maryland training center before traveling to Louisville, Kentucky.

"I don't see a necessity to get him to Churchill in a hurry; it's very busy over there," he said. "One of the reasons I wanted to get him home from Palm Meadows was to get him in a quieter environment at Fair Hill where he's used to being, and I think it's shown in his behavior this last week. I think he's been more settled and I think it's going to be advantageous to him to keep him there as long as I can. Right now, that's my gut feeling. I can certainly change my mind but I'd probably keep him at Fair Hill and give him his one work before the Derby there."

"Animal Kingdom was different because he had never run on the dirt, so we were very anxious to get him to Churchill and breeze on the dirt before we entered him in the Derby," he added. "We wanted to be sure with that horse that he could handle the dirt, but it's very different with this horse. He doesn't have to answer that question."

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Miss Sky Warrior punched her ticket to the Kentucky Oaks with an impressive 13-length victory in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle on Saturday as part of Wood Memorial Day. On Sunday, trainer Kelly Breen said he only had one complaint after his bay filly won her fifth start in a row and fourth consecutive against graded stakes competition.

"Unless [track announcer] Larry Collmus said 'she's moving like a tremendous machine,' that's the only thing that could have made it better," Breen said with a laugh, invoking the famous race call of Secretariat's 1973 Belmont Stakes win. "I'm just pleased to say I'm associated with her. That's the best way I can sum up watching the race and saying she's my horse."

Miss Sky Warrior earned 100 qualifying points to the Kentucky Oaks by capturing the Gazelle, bringing her total to 160, and is second on the leaderboard. Only Farrell, who won the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra and Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks, has more qualifying points (170).

Breen said Miss Sky Warrior came out of the Gazelle "looking great." Breen added that he has not yet finalized plans with Miss Sky Warrior's owners Arlene's Sun Star Stable as to where she will train for the 143rd running of the Kentucky Oaks on Friday, May 5. That race, considered the nation's premier event for 3-year-old fillies, will be contested at 1 1/8 miles, the same distance as the Gazelle.

"We're going to regroup and come up with a game plan and see if we want to send her to Kentucky," said Breen, who said there is a possibility she could return to train at Palm Meadows Training Center. "Hopefully she's happy and healthy and we'll be there the first Friday in May."

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Trainer Gaston Grant reported that his newly-minted Grade 1 winner Green Gratto returned from his neck victory over Unified in the $400,000 Carter Handicap on Saturday in fine fettle.

"He came out of it pretty good," said Grant. "He ate up all his feed and is looking like his old usual self."

Making his 53rd career start, the grizzled 7-year-old veteran rebounded from a disappointing seventh-place running in the Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap on March 11,  going wire-to-wire to upset a field of nine in the Carter at odds of 54-1.

"After the Tom Fool, we knew he just didn't run his race," said Grant. "We had him scoped and he had traces of blood in his lungs so we backed off him. He quickly returned to his old self and it showed on Saturday."

Grant, who co-owns Green Gratto with his brother Anthony, noted that capturing his first Grade 1 this weekend was especially gratifying due to his personal connection with the horse.

"It's been a real joy," he said. "I've been with him his entire racing career. From when he was a 2-year-old I started as his hot walker, then groom, and trainer."

Looking ahead, Grant was undecided on where Green Gratto might point next, adding that he'll let the star in his stable decide.

"We'll just wait and see," said Grant. "We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves but he'll let us know when he'll be ready to run again."

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With a Belmont Stakes Challenge Handicapping seat and two seats to the National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas up for grabs, David Harrison of Webster, New York quickly established himself at the top of the leaderboard in Saturday's Wood Memorial Handicapping Challenge tournament, cashing in on a $20 win wager on Brimstone at odds of 4-1 and a $2 exacta and $10 trifecta in Aqueduct's second race with, and never relinquished his lead to earn the victory in the tournament. 

A regular NYRA handicapping contest player, Harrison increased his $300 live money contest bankroll to a final total of $3,370.20. Harrison, who also picked up $5,000 in prize money for first place, credited his handicapping strategy, focusing on speed and class for earning him the tournament victory. 

"I'm a speed player, and speed came in very handy," said Harrison, an underwriter for an appraisal management company. "I've been handicapping since I was 17 or 18 years old and I'm also a big fan of Live Oak Plantation and I have to thank Charlotte Webber [owner of Live Oak Plantation] for a couple of winners. Sometimes, if I can't decide where to go in a race, I'll go with Live Oak Plantation, and they had a couple of winners [Saturday] so it worked out good."

Joining Harrison in the top three was second-place finisher Anthony Napolitano of Brooklyn, with a final bankroll of $3,343 and $900 in prize money as well as the choice of seat in either the 2017 Belmont Stakes Challenge Seat or National Handicapping Championship, and Charles Welch, who finished third with a final bankroll of $1,930 and $720 in prize money and the remaining tournament seat.