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Kept Waiting seeks second straight stakes win in $100K Correction

by Ryan Martin

Sanford Goldfarb and Irwin Goldfarb’s Kept Waiting will strive to keep her upward trajectory afloat, attempting a second stakes conquest in Saturday’s $100,000 Correction for older fillies and mares going six furlongs at Aqueduct Racetrack. 

The 5-year-old Broken Vow mare has won her last three starts by a combined 18 1/2 lengths. She captured a sloppy and sealed edition of the Broadway on February 13 last out against New York-breds only one week following her main track debut in a first level allowance victory against open company. She rounded out her 2021 campaign on a winning note, defeating New York-breds on the Aqueduct outer turf in a December 2 allowance optional claimer. 

Trainer Robert Falcone, Jr., who claimed Kept Waiting for $40,000 in September 2020, said his mare has shown consistency over different track conditions.

“It’s good that she doesn’t mind the slop,” Falcone, Jr. said. “Any horse that can win on the grass, fast track and the slop, makes for a pretty unique situation. She’s done it at good levels as well, 1x and 2x on the grass. She has wins on the dirt, turf and a stakes win on the slop, so she’s going up in class and her form is getting better.”

In her first start for Falcone, Jr., Kept Waiting found the winner’s circle in a seven-furlong New York-bred maiden event in October 2020 at Belmont Park, en route to a third-place finish at Santa Anita the following January. She returned to Belmont in April 2021 with a victory over the Widener turf and did not race until October when a disappointing fifth as the favorite over the Belmont inner turf. 

“She came out of her last race in good shape. She’s gotten a little more mature and grew up a bit,” Falcone, Jr. said. “We flew her out cross country to California and horses respond different to everything. She won her next start at Belmont, but we felt that she needed a break after that. She needed her first race off the layoff, but after that she was fit enough.” 

Bred in the Empire State by John Lauriello, Kept Waiting is out of the Malibu Moon mare Orient Moon. 

Kendrick Carmouche has the call from post 6. 

Trainer Ben Colebrook will ship Katherine Ball and Michael Ball’s stakes winner Club Car to New York by way of Kentucky for her 6-year-old debut. 

The dark bay Malibu Moon mare boats field-best earnings of $554,354 through a record of 23-5-9-5. She arrives off a four-month layoff, finishing second to multiple graded stakes-winner Bell’s the One in the Dream Supreme on November 13 at Churchill Downs and was a neck shy of victory against her familiar foe when second in the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America on October 9 at Keeneland. 

Never out of the money in eight starts last year, Club Car captured the West Virginia Secretary of State in August at Mountaineer Race Course. Earlier in the season, she earned graded stakes placings in the Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie at Laurel Park and the Grade 3 Chicago at Arlington Park. 

“She’s always been a straightforward filly to train,” Colebrook said. “Her best attribute is her consistency. She was a little unlucky a couple times last year to not get a graded stakes. She has a tendency to idle when she hits the front. We put blinkers on her and I think that really moved her forward, but she got beat twice by a nice horse [Bell’s the One].” 

While Club Car has displayed come-from-behind tactics, Colebrook said one could expect her to be more forwardly placed this time around. 

“Off the layoff, I think she could be a little closer than normal,” Colebrook said. “She might put herself in the race a little more and a little more on the bridle, but hopefully there’s enough pace for her.

“It looks to me in her strength and training she looks as good as ever,” Colebrook added. “If we can get a graded stakes win with her this year, that would be the goal.”

Dylan Davis will attempt his seventh stakes win of the winter meet when piloting Club Car from post 3. 

Five Hellions Farm’s Dontletsweetfoolya will try to make her second venture outside of Maryland a successful one for Maryland-based conditioner Lacey Gaudet. The 5-year-old Stay Thirsty mare arrives off an unplaced effort in the Wishing Well on January 29 at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky. Her last stakes conquests took place when she captured the Primonetta and the Willa On the Move at the end of her 2020 campaign, both six-furlong stakes events at Laurel Park. 

Jorge Vargas, Jr. will pick up the mount from post 2. 

Trainer James Ferraro will saddle Easy to Bless [post 1, Jackie Davis] and Letmetakethiscall [post 5, Andre Worrie], the two winningest horses in the field. 

Owned by Amsterdam Two Stables, seven-time winner Easy to Bless was a seven-length winner over a sloppy and sealed Big A main track two starts back, where she defeated next-out winner Dealing Justice. 

Matthew Levy and Kenneth Greenvald’s Letmetakethiscall captured 8-of-13 wins at Aqueduct, including a 9 1/4-length score in the Xtra Heat starter stakes last March. 

Completing the field is HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing’s Prodigy Doll for trainer Phil Schoenthal. The 4-year-old daughter of Shanghai Bobby will attempt her first stakes win since taking the Cheryl S. White Memorial in April at Mahoning Valley Race Course. 

Breaking from post 4, Prodigy Doll will be ridden by Trevor McCarthy. 

Inaugurated in 1940, the Correction honors John A. Morris and Alfred Morris’ talented female sprinter who captured the 1894 Toboggan Slide Handicap. The full-sister to Hall of Famer Domino is perhaps best known for her influence as a broodmare. She is the direct ancestress of 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed as well as Baby Zip – the dam of prominent sires Ghostzapper and City Zip. 

The Correction is slated as Race 8 on Aqueduct’s nine-race program on Saturday afternoon. First post is 1:20 p.m. Eastern. 

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

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