Fourth and One hoping to score 20 Kentucky Derby points in Listed $200K Withers

• Fourth and One hoping to score 20 Kentucky Derby points in Listed $200K Withers
• Kentucky Derby-trail options open for Brisset-trained Bricklin
• Three Capuano trainees under consideration for Listed $200K Withers

Dr. William Baxter, Jr.’s Stony Pointe Stables are going for it with New York-bred Fourth and One in the Listed $200,000 Withers on January 31, at Aqueduct Racetrack. The nine-furlong route for sophomores offers 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers.

Trained by Jeremiah Englehart, the Maxfield gelding removed blinkers to graduate at fourth asking on December 5 here in a one-turn mile maiden versus fellow state-breds. There, the dark bay dueled for the lead with Max Money through a half-mile in 46.67 seconds before putting that rival away and opening up a five-length lead at the stretch call en route to a 7 1/4-length victory in a final time of 1:37.46.

“We're very much looking forward to the Withers,” Baxter, Jr. said. “In his last race, Jeremiah took his blinkers off, and he rated very nicely and relaxed on the backside. He finished with great interest and won easily in the end.

“He's matured quite a bit in his racing style and that's what leads us to be optimistic going forward,” Baxter, Jr. added. “Jeremiah has always felt he would look forward to longer distances and he certainly demonstrated that last time out.”

The winning effort earned a career-best 76 Beyer Speed Figure, and the result was flattered when runner-up Royal Riddle returned to win next out here on January 3 in a state-bred maiden sprint [75 Beyer].

Fourth and One breezed a half-mile in 48.11 seconds Saturday over the Belmont Park dirt training track in his fifth work back since his impressive maiden score.

“He is athletic, continues to mature and seems to get bigger every time I see him. Physically, he resembles his stallion quite closely,” Baxter, Jr. said. “Jeremiah has done a tremendous job with our horse. He was a strong personality when he first arrived in New York and Jeremiah has turned a raw talent into a potentially serious racehorse.”

Fourth and One kept good company in his first three outings, all against fellow state-breds, including on debut when a pacesetting four-length second to Minorinconvenience in the six-furlong Funny Cide on August 27 at Saratoga Race Course.

He followed with a pair of efforts at Belmont at the Big A - both won by the well-regarded Bravaro - when second in a six-furlong maiden sprint on September 28 and third on October 25 traveling a one-turn mile in the Sleepy Hollow.

Fourth and One, bred in the Empire State by Chesapeake Farm, Rockridge Stud, Tamie Semler and John McConnell, was purchased for $240,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky February Mixed Sale. Out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Wajeeha, Fourth and One subsequently RNA’d for $95,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

“This particular horse was purchased as a short yearling with a thought that we were going to pinhook him. A certain portion of the pinhooking partnership broke off to take this horse to the races. Sometimes, better lucky than good,” said Baxter, Jr., with a laugh.

The 63-year-old Baxter, Jr., a retired oral and maxillofacial surgeon based in Michigan, is thriving in his second career, overseeing a number of bloodstock interests.

“This is the first horse for this partnership,” Baxter, Jr. said. “There are nine of us - all folks from Western Michigan that have joined me in a pinhooking partnership and from that have evolved some other partnerships, including this racehorse partnership. Most of what we had done previously was pinhooking weanlings to yearlings and now we have several broodmares in partnership in Lexington.”

Baxter, Jr., who grew up showing horses, said he caught the racing bug when Secretariat won the 1973 Kentucky Derby. He was previously involved with horses via the Team Valor syndicate, including having a small share in stakes-winner First Premio, who won an optional-claiming tilt at Churchill Downs on the 2021 Kentucky Derby undercard.

Also among the partnerships managed by Baxter, Jr. is the dual stakes-placed First Division, a 4-year-old Omaha Beach colt trained by Kenny McPeek and owned by Baxter with Deann Baer and Brett Logan.

“First Division is down at Fair Grounds right now. He just got beat at the wire in The Coach Overnight a couple weeks back at Oaklawn,” Baxter, Jr. said. “He ran in the Arkansas Derby last year but unfortunately had a quarter-crack open up during the race and we had to give him some time off.

“We have bits and pieces of a number of horses with the Legion Bloodstock guys, and they've had tremendous early success with Drexel Hill in the Oaks and some promising 2-year-olds,” he added. “They're great horsemen and tremendous people, so it's fun to do partnership stuff with them.”

Baxter, Jr. noted that he’s taken a particular interest in the New York-bred program as he looks to identify potential prospects at the sale.

“The purse structure of the state-bred program and the stakes races available to Fourth and One going forward are a huge incentive,” Baxter, Jr. said. “I've enjoyed coming to New York for three of his races now and if he goes on to race in stakes races at the new Belmont when it opens, that would be an exciting draw for us, too. We've heard nothing but good things about the new facility and Jeremiah, the last time I spoke to him, was very high on it and thinks that people will enjoy going racing there. It's a state-of-the-art facility.”

Among the partners on Fourth and One is Danny Brown, a football coach at South Christian High School in Byron Center, Michigan. Brown, who was recently named Coach of the Year by the West Michigan Officials Association, helped to inspire the name of the promising horse.

“When we were discussing him joining the partnership, I let him know you have to consider the money you're putting in…I wouldn't want him to have any regrets,” Baxter, Jr. recalled. “I said to him, ‘do you ever regret going for it on fourth and one?’ And he said, 'never, we always go.'

“This is his first racehorse, and he gets excited about it the way a football coach would get excited about it, so him being involved in naming the horse has been fun for him and his family,” Baxter, Jr. added.

Baxter, Jr. admits to dreaming of a return to the Churchill Downs winner’s circle on Derby Day and said the partners are certainly looking forward to seeing if Fourth and One can convert his next opportunity into Derby points.

“Derby fever is a real thing, and this race will be a tremendous yardstick to figure out what type of horse we really have,” said Baxter, Jr., who has seen Fourth and One race live in all but his winning effort.

The only question remaining is if the partners will allow Baxter, Jr. to attend the Withers in person.

“My partners have said, 'he runs second and third when you're there and wins when you're not, so maybe we ought to have you stay home,'” said Baxter, Jr. with a laugh.

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Kentucky Derby-trail options open for Brisset-trained Bricklin

Imagine Racing’s Bricklin impressed last out when winning by 3 1/4 lengths in a one-mile optional claimer on January 3 at Oaklawn Park. Trainer Rodolphe Brisset said the Nyquist dark bay is under consideration for multiple Kentucky Derby-trail options, including staying home for the Grade 3 Southwest on January 31 at Oaklawn or possibly the Listed $200,000 Withers the same day at Aqueduct Racetrack.

“Pretty much everything is in play: the Southwest, the Withers,” said Brisset. “Or we could give him a little more time, wait until mid-February, or wait all the way until the Rebel [on March 1 at Oaklawn]. I’m not committing to anything. Nothing is out of the picture, but we aren’t in a rush, we’ve got to play it week by week.”

Both the 1 1/16-mile Southwest and nine-furlong Withers offer 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers.

Bricklin earned a career-best 86 Beyer Speed Figure for his recent win and improved to 2-for-4 overall, missing the board in his August debut at Ellis Park and in the Grade 3 Street Sense in October two starts back at Churchill Downs. Brisset said Bricklin returned to the tab on Saturday at Oaklawn with Clocker Special.

“He worked yesterday with another 3-year-old, who’s had a layoff and we will try to see if he’s good enough to be on the Derby Trail, too, by the name of Clocker Special,” Brisset said. “They worked together, it was a nice maintenance five-eighths from the half, nothing fancy, but a good work.”

Clocker Special, owned by Storyteller Racing, Schroeck Racing, Open Gate Horse Ventures, Brian Cahoe, Scott Catlett, Dave Russel and Matthew Ransdell, graduated second-out when making his most recent start in July at Ellis Park.

“Clocker Special, we had our eye on him at two, he broke his maiden pretty impressively, was pointing for the Futurity at Keeneland. He got just a little setback, never got hurt, but we didn’t like the way he was training, so we gave him some time to focus on winter racing and the Derby Trail,” Brisset said. “He’s been working at Oaklawn and we might have an allowance the day after the Southwest on February 1st. That would be our starting point.”

Brisset said he nominated the trio of N Z Holly, Joke Maker and Hollybygolly to the $135,000 Ruthless, a seven-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies, on Withers Day at Aqueduct.

“A week-by-week play with the fillies. Two of them [N Z Holly, Joke Maker] are at Oaklawn, up to New York is not an easy ship, but we do have some at Keeneland so we can always divide the trip to two steps,” Brisset said. “The last one I nominated, Hollybygolly, is at Turfway and just broke her maiden pretty impressively, but at a lower level, so we’ll play it by ear.”

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Three Capuano trainees under consideration for Listed $200K Withers

Trainer Gary Capuano said he has nominated a trio of horses in Hollywood Import, Let’s Go Lando and Wild Warrior to the Listed $200,000 Withers on January 31 at Aqueduct Racetrack. The nine-furlong route for sophomores offers 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers.

“I’ve got three nominated, and I’m thinking about sending one or two. I’m not sure yet, so I’ll see how things go this week,” Capuano said.

Pocket 3’s Racing’s Hollywood Import, a Kentucky-bred Honor A. P. colt, was last seen posting a pacesetting 1 3/4-length score over favored stablemate Probably Dreaming, who was bumped at break and closed late along the rail, in the seven-furlong Heft on December 27 at Laurel Park.

“He’s starting to fill out a little more and mature and is putting things together,” said Capuano. “He’s still got a little more maturing to do, but right now, he’s on the right track.”

Hollywood Import would face his farthest test to date in the Withers, and Capuano has worked the colt twice going one mile over the Laurel Park main track, including in 1:45.80 on Friday. On January 9, he worked the same distance in 1:43.40.

“I worked him a week or so ago and he wouldn’t relax. He was a little bit too keen and didn’t finish up too well,” Capuano said. “The other day, he worked and relaxed a lot more and finished up a lot stronger. I was pleased with that.”

Hollywood Import, out of the Curlin mare Baby Zito, is a half-brother to Big Stretch, who captured the one-mile Escape Clause in 2023 at Assiniboia Downs. Hollywood Import was purchased for $50,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Paul Fowler, Jr.’s Probably Dreaming was in tight down the backstretch and shuffled back to last-of-6 into the turn before making his late charge. The Improbable sophomore colt won his first three starts, including scores at Delaware Park in the restricted six-furlong First State Dash on September 14 and the Rocky Run contested at a two-turn mile on October 11.

The chestnut entered the Heft from a runner-up effort in the Listed Nashua on November 1 here when 3 1/2-lengths back of My World, who exited that effort to win the local Jerome and is now targeting the Group 3 Saudi Derby.

Capuano said Probably Dreaming was recently sold privately and is no longer in his barn.

Eagle Up Stables, London Reid Thoroughbreds and Non Stop Stable’s Maryland-bred Let’s Go Lando could make his stakes debut from a six-length romp in a one-mile optional-claimer contested over sloppy and sealed footing on January 10 at Laurel Park.

The Game Winner gelding boasts an 8-2-2-2 record for purse earnings of $94,950.

Capuano said the bay has turned a corner since being gelded late last summer and stretched out to one mile and beyond after making his first four starts at sprint distances.

“As soon as we gelded him and got him stretched out to two turns, he had a good second and then came back and won,” Capuano said. “The one-turn mile last out, he ran a really good race and finished up strong. It might be a little quick back for him, but we’ll see.”

Let’s Go Lando, a half-brother to stakes-winners It’s Hammertime and Shackled Love, is out of the stakes-winning Not For Love mare Steady N Love – a half-sister to multiple stakes-winners Malibu Beauty, Just Philtored, and Steady Warrior. All of the aforementioned family raced in the care of Capuano for a period of time.

Rose Petal Stable’s Wild Warrior sports a perfect 4-2-0-2 in-the-money record and arrives from a key 1 1 1/6-mile optional-claiming route on December 14 at Laurel that featured next-out winners in runner-up Bala de Plata and the aforementioned Let’s Go Lando.

“He’s been training really good since early last year,” Capuano said. “He’s not real fast early and he’s just a real steady horse, so we stretched him out from the start. He had a nice race last out and everything is coming together with him.”

The $25,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale purchase is out of the winning Lemon Drop Kid mare Inaweofnooneatall – a half-sister to dual graded-stakes winner Bel Air Beauty.

Capuano indicated that Eagle Up Stables, London Reid Thoroughbreds and Non Stop Stable’s stakes-winner It’s Hammertime, a 4-year-old Maryland-bred Vekoma colt, is in training with no current spot picked out as of yet.

The dual stakes-winner was last seen winning an optional-claimer in April at Laurel. It’s Hammertime posted back-to-back bullet works last month, including a half-mile from the gate in 47.40 on December 30 in his last reported breeze.