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Caldwell Luvs Gold steps back up for $150K Interborough

Christian Abdo Jan 19 2025

Dicke Racing’s New York-bred Caldwell Luvs Gold looks for her third career stakes win and first against open company in Saturday’s $150,000 Interborough, a seven-furlong sprint for older fillies and mares, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
 
Trained by dual Eclipse Award winner Brad Cox, the 4-year-old Goldencents bay captured the six-furlong Seeking the Ante as a juvenile at Saratoga Race Course and the 1 1/16-mile New York Oaks as a sophomore at Finger Lakes Racetrack.  

Caldwell Luvs Gold dropped into the allowance ranks last out for a rallying half-length score versus open-company elders over Saturday's course and distance on December 13. 

“I’m excited to get her back to the seven-eighths,” said Dustin Dugas, Cox’s New York-based assistant. “She’s been one who has been pretty forward lately in her gallops. I think she just needs to break and settle into a nice, comfortable stride. If there’s some pace in there, even better – just something she can sit off of and settle into.” 

Caldwell Luvs Gold worked a half-mile in 50.74 seconds in company with Stress Reliever on Saturday over the Belmont Park dirt training track. 

“She’s going into the race good and has been a little over-aggressive – for her – going into this. She’s going into it with the right attitude,” Dugas said. “She just plucks away and has never done anything wrong. Typical Goldencents frame on her, a very solid filly.”

Dugas said Caldwell Luvs Gold’s last effort demonstrated that she likes the local dirt. She was third here on turf in the Grade 3 Fasig-Tipton Jockey Club Oaks Invitational in September. 

“She’s starting to like it. At first, we were kind of wondering to ourselves if she didn’t like it because her first few tries over it were lackluster,” Dugas said. “Now, with age, she’s started to mature and like Aqueduct and the surface.” 

Caldwell Luvs Gold [post 2, Luis Rivera, Jr.] will look to continue a strong start to the year for Cox, who captured the Grade 3 Lecomte with Disco Time and Grade 3 Louisiana with Hit Show on Saturday at Fair Grounds Race Course. 

Bred in the Empire State by Jeremiah Desmond and Drumkenny Farm, Caldwell Luvs Gold is out of the Quality Road mare Snow, who is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-placed Quindici Man.

Nine Thirty Racing’s Socially Selective [post 7, Sahin Civaci] will look for her first stakes win in her third attempt. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the 5-year-old Speightster chestnut was a close second last out to the well-regarded Mystic Lake in the six-furlong Listed Sugar Swirl on December 21 at Gulfstream Park. 

There, Socially Selective traveled two lengths back early and closed to land three-quarter lengths behind her dual graded stakes winning rival. The performance earned a career and field-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure. It also added to a second in the Listed Purple Martin as a sophomore at Oaklawn Park.

Socially Selective, a $95,000 purchase at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale out of the dual stakes-winning French Deputy mare Dharma Girl, boasts a 6-3-3-0 record with $220,850 in earnings. She is a half-sister to stakes winner and 5-for-5 Native American. 

Repole Stable’s Scalable [post 6, Kendrick Carmouche] won the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks by three-quarter-lengths over next-out stakes winner Gun Song in July at its namesake oval to earn a career-best 89 Beyer.

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the 4-year-old Speightstown gray was next well beaten by Thorpedo Anna in the Grade 1 Cotillion in September at Parx Racing before a third in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Comely in November here to close out her sophomore campaign.

"I think the cut back will suit her well,” said Pletcher’s New York-based assistant Stu Hampson. “We've trained her up so hopefully she's fresh enough going into this. She's a hard-trying filly and shows up every time. At the end of the day, we're optimistic she'll handle the cutback well and hopefully she will be there at the end.”

Scalable breezed a half-mile in 49.23 in company on Saturday over the Belmont Park dirt training track. 

“She worked really well. The track seemed to be a little faster than it has been the past couple of weeks. She put in a pretty sharp work and galloped out well,” Hampson said. “She looked great this morning. With her cutting back, a sharp work is what we needed and hopefully that will stand her well Saturday."

Scalable, a $200,000 purchase from the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is out of the Tapit mare Passion Flower. Her second dam, graded stakes placed Exotic Bloom, produced multiple Grade 1-victor Stopchargingmaria – an earner of over $3 million for Pletcher that was campaigned at ages two and three by Mike Repole. 

Ronald P. Stewart’s stakes-placed St. Benedicts Prep [post 1, Jose Lezcano] enters one week after a nose defeat in the six-furlong What A Summer at Laurel Park. Trained by Linda Rice, the 5-year-old Flatter bay traveled five lengths back early in fourth of six, much farther back than usual, but closed for a photo finish with Ms. Bucchero. 

St. Benedicts Prep won her lone other start of 2025, going gate-to-wire in a January 2 optional claimer here impressively to win by 4 1/4 lengths. She was haltered for $80,000 out of a win last April at Keeneland, and after unseating her rider in her first outing for new connections, won three of her next four starts - all at seven furlongs, including a 10 1/2-length allowance trouncing in May here, in addition to two close wins at the Spa. 

Rice also entered Just Music [post 3, Eric Cancel] after an off-the-board finish in a one-turn mile optional claimer on Sunday. The Rice-owned 4-year-old Audible bay is set to contest her first stakes, while also cutting back to less than one mile for the first time since an off-the-board finish in her July 2023 debut at the Spa. 

Rounding out the field is dual New York-bred stakes-winner Cara’s Time [post 4, Ruben Silvera], who captured the local Iroquois two starts back for trainer Mitchell Friedman; and seven-time victor Dame Cinco [post 5, Lane Luzzi], who arrives on a local two-race win streak for conditioner Rick Dutrow, Jr.

The Interborough is slated as Race 3 on Saturday’s nine-race card. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern. 

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct Racetrack winter meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.
 
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