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Mr. Swagger confirmed for G2 Wood Memorial; Little Vic to G1 Carter Handicap

by NYRA Press Office

• Mr. Swagger confirmed for G2 Wood Memorial; Little Vic to G1 Carter Handicap
• Clear the Air likely to return for G2 Wood Memorial
• Colebrook leaning towards G1 Blue Grass at Keeneland for G3 Gotham winner Raise Cain

Mr. Swagger, a troubled sixth last out in the Grade 3 Gotham over a muddy and sealed main track on March 4, will return to Aqueduct on April 8 for the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino. The Wood Memorial offers 100-40-30-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers.

The Juan Carlos Avila trainee, a sophomore son of Maclean's Music, is owned by Victoria's Ranch - the racing operation of retired professional baseball player Victor Martinez, a five-time MLB All-Star.

Mr. Swagger worked six furlongs in 1:19.47 Saturday over a deep Parx main track.

"He's perfect. He went easy and strong and finished up very nice. We are ready for the Wood Memorial and I think he's ready for a nice race," Avila said.

The $225,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase has made both of his career starts at the Big A with Carlos Olivero up. He graduated on debut in a 6 1/2-furlong sprint on January 28 by three-quarters of a length over Register, who exited that event to earn a 93 Beyer in a narrow nose maiden score.

Mr. Swagger, who added blinkers when exiting post 3 in the Gotham, was bumped at the break and prompted the pace from fourth position at the half-mile call, but failed to fire after saving ground through the turn.

"In the Gotham, I said to Carlos that I want to see Mr. Swagger be last place, but he was much closer,” Avila said. “Hopefully, this time he can stay back.”

Avila said Mr. Swagger will keep the blinkers on for the Wood Memorial.

Out of the Thunder Gulch mare Tee Off, Mr. Swagger is a half-brother to multiple graded-stakes winning turf router Five Iron.

In addition to Mr. Swagger, the probable field for the Wood Memorial includes Classic Catch (Todd Pletcher), Clear the Air (William Walden), Crupi (Pletcher), Dreamlike (Pletcher), Hit Show (Brad Cox), Lord Miles (Saffie Joseph, Jr.), Shadow Dragon (Bill Mott) and Slip Mahoney (Cox). Possible starters include Arctic Arrogance (Linda Rice), I Don't Get It (Doug O'Neill), Raise Cain (Ben Colebrook), and Transect (Paulo Lobo).

Little Vic, also owned by Victoria’s Ranch, made the grade with a stalking 1 1/2-length score over graded-stakes winner Runninsonofagun on the Gotham undercard in the six-furlong Grade 3, $150,000 Tom Fool Handicap. 

The 4-year-old Practical Joke colt will return to the Big A on April 8 for the seven-furlong Grade 1, $300,000 Carter Handicap presented by NYRA Bets. The Tom Fool victory provided Olivero, who has the return call on both Wood Memorial Day starters, with his first graded score.

Little Vic breezed five-eighths in 1:06.18 Saturday at Parx.

“He's doing very well. He went very easy. He'll breeze against Saturday and be ready for the Carter,” Avila said.

Little Vic made his Big A debut three starts back in the six-furlong Gravesend where he lost focus at the quarter-pole and was defeated a nose by multiple graded-stakes winning millionaire Drafted. He added blinkers for his next start in the seven-furlong Grade 3 Toboggan on January 28 at the Big A and completed the exacta behind a runaway Repo Rocks with Drafted in third. 

Avila said Little Vic will again wear blinkers in the Carter and that a good effort will propel the colt to the seven-furlong Grade 1 Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

“The blinkers are perfect and help keep him focused through the race. I like him at seven furlongs,” Avila said.

Little Vic has finished first or second in each of his last five starts, including an allowance score over older horses in October at Delaware Park ahead of a win in the City of Laurel in November at Laurel Park. 

A $50,000 purchased at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Little Vic is out of the multiple stakes-winning Rock Hard Ten mare Rock and Glory, who is a half-sister to multiple stakes-placed Gorgeous Ginny.

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Clear the Air likely to return for G2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino

Trainer Will Walden is leaning toward a return to New York with Cypress Creek Equine’s Clear the Air for the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on April 8 at Aqueduct Racetrack. The nine-furlong event is the final local Kentucky Derby qualifier, offering the top-five finishers points based off a 100-40-30-20-10 allotment. 

Clear the Air earned five points following a troubled fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Gotham on March 4 at the Big A and is currently 56th on the leaderboard. Breaking from the inside in the full field of 14, Clear the Air maintained rail-skimming position from seventh over the muddy and sealed going before going four wide in upper stretch and checking around the three-sixteenths pole. He continued to find more down the lane and finished 10 3/4 lengths in arrears of the victorious Raise Cain. 

“It wasn’t really what we drew up on paper going into it. I know when you get a bunch of horses running around in the slop, it almost never goes according to plan,” Walden said. “Raise Cain got some momentum. He went inside and we went outside. The hole we were going for closed at the three sixteenths. When you get fully stopped on a big horse, it can be hard to re-rally. But he started picking off horses and started to get going. But by that time, it was too late in the game. If he doesn’t get stopped, I think he ends up second or third.”

Prior to the Gotham, Clear the Air endured another troubled trip when fourth in a one-mile optional-claimer on February 11 at Turfway Park – his lone two-turn start. A close third early on, Clear the Air was shuffled back around the far turn but made a valiant effort to finish 3 3/4-lengths back of the victorious Wadsworth, who finished fourth in Saturday’s Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks. 

Fifth on debut last summer at Ellis Park, he returned to racing action with vigor, breaking his maiden sprinting six furlongs on January 6 at Turfway Park. 

Walden said he was encouraged by the two-turn effort. 

“It’s a question we want to answer. He’s a big, long stretchy horse and he’s very efficient. The way he breezes and gallops out, he looks like a two-turn horse,” Walden said. “He also did run two turns at Turfway going a mile. That was again a horrible trip. He never got out of cover until well inside the sixteenth pole. But the two turns that day never seemed to be an issue. He looked loaded the whole time.”

Bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, Clear the Air is the third progeny out of the More Than Ready mare Marsali. Clear the Air’s third dam is 1997 Champion Older Mare Hidden Lake. He was purchased for $95,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. 

Walden pointed out that Clear the Air is a late foal with room to blossom. 

“He won’t officially be a 3-year-old until May 5. I’ve felt all along that this horse has all the talent in the world,” Walden said. “I believe he has graded stake type of potential. I don’t know exactly when the lightbulb will fully go off. He’s still big and green, but if things go right for him, he can put it together. It wouldn’t shock me if he went up there and ran really big.”

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Colebrook leaning towards G1 Blue Grass at Keeneland for G3 Gotham winner Raise Cain

Andrew Warren and Rania Warren’s Raise Cain, who won the Grade 3 Gotham in rallying fashion on March 4 at Aqueduct Racetrack, will likely make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass on April 8 at Keeneland, according to trainer Ben Colebrook. 

Raise Cain, a bay son of Violence, made his graded debut a winning one in the Gotham, closing from 5 1/2 lengths off the pace to land an impressive 7 1/2-length victory at odds of 23-1 under Jose Lezcano. Raise Cain, who was nominated to the Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on April 8 at the Big A, has worked back once since his victory, breezing a half-mile in 49 seconds on March 22 at Keeneland. 

“He’s been training great and put on weight,” said Colebrook. “He’ll breeze again tomorrow at Keeneland. I think he really gets it now and now he’s confident and feeling good. I think he’s sitting on a big race wherever we go. It’s exciting.”

Colebrook, who is based in Kentucky, said the ability to run at home, along with Lezcano’s potential commitment to ride Wood Memorial aspirant Arctic Arrogance, has made him lean towards the Blue Grass rather than a return to the Empire State. 

“We’re not sure if Lezcano would ride us or Arctic Arrogance,” said Colebrook. “I don’t think the Blue Grass will be a full field and it’s one of those things where if we can run in our own backyard, it will take a strong reason for us to go to the Wood. But, it could still happen if something changes with defections and it’s still on our radar. We’re taking it day by day.” 

Raise Cain earned 50 qualifying points towards the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby for his Gotham victory. Both the Wood Memorial and the Blue Grass offer 100-40-30-20-10 qualifying points to the top-five finishers, respectively. 

Colebrook had also nominated stakes-winner Scoobie Quando to the Wood Memorial for the same ownership, but said the son of Uncle Mo is also pointing toward the Blue Grass or the Grade 3 Lexington on April 15 over the same oval, awarding 20-8-6-4-2 qualifying points. 

Scoobie Quando, who was last seen finishing second in the John Battaglia Memorial on March 4 over Turfway Park’s synthetic, has made all three starts at Turfway and has never raced over the dirt. Colebrook said he had planned to run the colt in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks, which was won impressively by Two Phil’s on March 25 at Turfway, but skipped the race due to a minor issue. 

“He had a little issue – nothing major – where he missed the Jeff Ruby, but that was kind of a blessing in disguise with the way Two Phil’s ran,” said Colebrook. “We’ll go back to Plan B, which is the Blue Grass or the Lexington. He hasn’t shipped, so the fact there’s two races here [is better]. I think if we’re going to try something new, let’s try it at home. There’s too many unknowns to ship to New York.”