Locked looks to bounce back in G2 Woodward

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm’s dual Grade 1 winner Locked seeks a return to winning form in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Woodward, a nine-furlong route for 3-year-olds and up, at Belmont at the Big A.

The Woodward [Race 6] is one of five graded stakes on Saturday’s stacked 12-race program, which is headlined by the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic in Race 5. The card also features the Grade 2, $250,000 Gallant Bloom in Race 8, the Grade 3, $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint in Race 4, and the Grade 3, $200,000 Vosburgh presented by Army Mule in Race 9, a “Win and You’re In” for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint on November 1 at Del Mar. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, Locked was a force in the older division in the early part of this season, finishing a game second to White Abarrio in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational to kick of his 4-year-old campaign in January ahead of a sparkling 8 1/2-length annexing of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March at its namesake course in an effort that received a 109 Beyer Speed Figure. The consistent chestnut has been on-the-board in 9-of-10 lifetime starts, and notched his first Grade 1 victory as a juvenile in Keeneland’s Breeders’ Futurity.

The Gun Runner colt arrives off two soundly-beaten efforts in Grade 2 company, finishing a 6 3/4-length fourth behind victorious stablemate Fierceness in the Alysheba in May at Churchill Downs and a third as the favorite in the 10-furlong Suburban presented by Subourbon last out on July 25 where he landed 6 1/4-lengths behind victorious returning rival Phileas Fogg. 

Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners said Locked has benefitted from the nearly three months since the Suburban.

“He just didn’t have that ‘oomph’ that we know he’s capable of in the Suburban,” Wellman said. “He was inside and closer to the pace than usual, which might not have been to his liking, but no excuses. He just wasn’t the Locked that we know can be so brilliant. We really decided to hit the reboot button, and the last month he’s been training like the ‘A’ version of Locked, which is highly encouraging. He’s run very well at Aqueduct in the past, the Woodward is a historic race, and we’re very much looking forward to getting him back on top.”

Locked is a perfect 2-for-2 over the Big A main track after posting back-to-back wins last fall, beginning with a 7 1/2-length trouncing of a seven-furlong optional claimer in October, his first start off a nearly one-year layoff dating to a third in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita. He followed with a rallying 1 1/2-length victory in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile presented by TwinSpires.com, where he defeated a field that included Grade 1-winner Mullikin [second] and returning rival Post Time [third].

Wellman said the impressive five-month stretch from the Aqueduct allowance win to the Santa Anita Handicap may have caught up with Locked this spring.

“We might have underestimated how much it could have taken out of him leading up to the Alysheba. It was sort of an odd race that day and it was the first time in his career he’d ever been off the board,” Wellman said. “We decided to just really take a step back and freshen him up to see if we could get him back on top of his game for what we hope will be a two-race end to his campaign working back from the Breeders’ Cup.

“Todd and his team have done a great job and he seems like he’s cycling back into top form right now,” Wellman added. “Now, it’s up to him to prove that he can cap off his career with two big-time races.”

A win would provide Pletcher with a standalone record sixth win in this event after previous victories with Lawyer Ron [2007], Quality Road [2010], Liam’s Map [2015], Life Is Good [2022] and Tapit Trice [2024].

Hall of Famer John Velazquez, aboard for both of Locked’s wins at the Big A and in the Pegasus, returns to the irons from the outermost post 7 as he seeks his fifth Woodward score.

Hillwood Stables’ Post Time [post 2, Sheldon Russell] wheels back from a 17-length romp over two rivals in the one-mile Polynesian on September 7 at Laurel Park for trainer Brittany Russell as he returns to the scene of his Grade 2 Carter presented by NYRA Bets score last year.

“He’s done really well since his run at Laurel and it didn’t take much out of him, so it seems logical to come back in three weeks,” Russell said. “We were lucky that they got the race to go and we were able to run at home, but it’s going to be hard to keep him there because I think a lot of them don’t want to come and run against him. We’re probably going to have to keep him on the road a little bit.”

The 5-year-old Frosted horse rebounded in a big way in the Polynesian after an uncharacteristic sixth in the Grade 1 Whitney on August 2 at the Spa, where he missed the board for the first time in 19 career outings. The last-out victory garnered a 103 Beyer, two points shy of his career-best earned for a third in last year’s Whitney and the same number he received for a three-length score in the Grade 3 General George last February at Laurel. 

Post Time makes his sixth start this campaign, and looks to add to two other wins at Laurel with a 13 1/4-length optional claiming score traveling 1 1/16 miles off a six-month respite in May and a 3 1/2-length victory in the Deputed Testamony going this distance in June.

“Maybe it’s taken him this long to get back right off the time [off this winter]. Maybe I thought we had him more ready earlier in the season than we did,” Russell said. “He’ll have to show up on Saturday and run a big race, but I think maybe he’s gotten a little better with some runs under his belt this season. It’s taken him a little racing to get back right again.”

A 12-time winner, Post Time has collected eight stakes scores and over $1.4 million in total purse earnings, winning at distances ranging from 5 1/2 to nine furlongs.

“He’s a bit of a throwback, isn’t he? He just seems to hold his form and he loves to run,” Russell said. “He’s just a racehorse. He’s done well when we’ve shipped him up to New York, so we feel good about it.”

Jupiter Stable’s graded stakes-winner Phileas Fogg [post 6, Kendrick Carmouche] enters off the back of two triple-digit Beyers awarded for his head win in the Suburban [104] and for a stalking effort in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup [105] on August 31 that saw him cross the finish line third but disqualified and declared unplaced for interference in the early stages.

In the 10-furlong Jockey Club, the 5-year-old Astern gelding came over several paths shortly after the start, resulting in a chain reaction that caused Mindframe to lose jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. and Sierra Leone to alter course around the fallen rider. Phileas Fogg then tracked in second behind the runaway pacesetter Contrary Thinking before taking command in the final turn and leading through early stretch until being collared by the victorious Antiquarian and the late-running Sierra Leone.

Trained by Gustavo Rodriguez, Phileas Fogg was a $62,500 claim for his current connections out of an optional claiming turf tilt last summer at the Spa, and has gone on to cross the wire in the top-three in each of his eight starts since, led by his head score over Antiquarian in the Suburban. 

Completing the field are Grade 3-winner Awesome Aaron [post 1, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for trainer Norm Casse; Grade 2 Charles Town Classic runner-up Willy D’s [post 3, Flavien Prat], who is cross-entered in Saturday’s Grade 2 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs for trainer Mike Maker; multiple graded stakes-placed Gould’s Gold [post 5, Javier Castellano], who enters from a third in the Charles Town Classic for trainer Ken McPeek; and 2023 Woodward runner-up Film Star [post 4, Manny Franco] who makes his first start off the $100,000 claim for trainer Rob Atras. 

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall 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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