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Risk Taking earns 89 BSF in G3 Withers score

by NYRA Press Office

• Risk Taking earns 89 BSF in G3 Withers score
• Capo Kane to shorten back up for G3 Gotham following third-place G3 Withers effort
• Overtook proved two-turn talent in G3 Withers
• Re Created on target for $100K Gander
• Cross Country Pick 5 handles $123K; pays $872.50

Klaravich Stables’ Risk Taking earned a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure for his triumphant stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Chad Brown, the son of Medaglia d’Oro broke well from post 5 and settled in sixth in between horses before inching his way closer to the front under little asking from Eric Cancel. Nearing the sixteenth pole, Risk Taking confronted and overtook pacesetter Capo Kane en route to a 3 ¾-length win as the post-time favorite. He earned 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

“He came out of the race good. He doesn’t look too tired so I’m very happy with how he came out of the race,” said Dan Stupp, Brown’s Belmont Park-based assistant.

Risk Taking arrived at the Withers off a third-out nine-furlong maiden special weight score where he sported blinkers for the first time to defeat next-out winners The Reds and Unbridled Honor, both of whom also broke their maidens at two turns.

Stupp said blinkers and added distance have benefitted Risk Taking.

“He’s always been a forward training horse in the morning, but the blinkers and the added distance were beneficial,” Stupp said. “The blinkers helped him focus a bit more. It really brought out what we saw in the morning. That combination has certainly worked well for him.”

Following the Withers, Brown said Risk Taking would likely target the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on April 3 at the Big A. The nine-furlong Wood Memorial is the final local prep for the Grade 1, Kentucky Derby and awards the top-four finishers qualifying points according to a 100-40-20-10 scale.

Bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey, Jr., Risk Taking was purchased for $240,000 from the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the Distorted Humor mare Run a Risk, who was twice stakes-placed on grass. He comes from the same extended family as Grade 1-winner and champion producing sire Seeking the Gold.

Capo Kane to shorten back up for G3 Gotham following third-place G3 Withers effort

Bing Cherry Racing and Leonard Liberto’s Capo Kane came out of his third-place effort in Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers in good order, trainer Harold Wyner said Sunday morning. The veteran conditioner said the Street Sense colt could cut back in distance next out in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham going a one-turn mile on March 6 at Aqueduct.

The Withers, offering 10-4-2-1 qualifying points to the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, marked Capo Kane’s first start at nine furlongs after posting two wins and a runner-up finish between seven furlongs and a mile and 70 yards through his first three starts.

Under jockey Dylan Davis, Capo Kane led the nine-horse Withers field through the first mile before tiring in the stretch. Capo Kane still pressed on, earning a pair of qualifying points after finishing behind Overtook and winner Risk Taking.

After earning an 81 Beyer for his first start at two turns, Capo Kane will likely be shortened up in the Gotham, which offers 50-20-10-5 qualifying points to the first Saturday in May.

“He came out of it good and ate up his dinner last night and seems fine this morning,” Wyner said. “The track wasn’t speed-favoring, that’s for sure and it caught up to him in the last sixteenth of a mile. We’re going to point him towards the Gotham.”

Aqueduct’s final prep for the Kentucky Derby is the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on April 3. Contested at 1 1/8 miles, it all but assures the winner a spot in the first leg of the Triple Crown, with 100-40-20-10 points on the line.

Capo Kane ran second on debut in October at Parx going seven furlongs and capped his juvenile year with a maiden-breaking 4 1/2-length score on November 25 at the same track stretched out to a mile and 70 yards.

On New Year’s Day, Capo Kane won his first stakes start – and sophomore bow – in gate-to-wire dominance, besting a five-horse Jerome field by 6 1/4 lengths at one mile. That win, which earned a personal-best 84 Beyer, coupled with Saturday gives Capo Kane 12 total qualifying points; tied for sixth-most on the leaderboard with Jackie’s Warrior.

“I just think he’s learning every race and has talent and natural speed,” Wyner said. “He’s just training nicely and moving forward from each race.”

Overtook proved two-turn talent in G3 Withers

The Todd Pletcher-trained Overtook rallied from last-of-9 to finish second in Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers, earning a career-best 83 Beyer.

“He came out of the race in good shape and ate up last night. His energy level looks good walking around, so I was happy with his effort,” said Pletcher assistant Byron Hughes.

Owned by Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable, Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith, Overtook showed a strong closing kick under Manny Franco in the stretch run in pursuit of the victorious Risk Taking.

“That seems to be how he wants to run,” Hughes said. “Manny did a good job of getting him to settle down the backside and got a good run at him. He seems to be steadily improving and getting sharper. That was a big jump up from his maiden win. I don’t know what the next step is but two turns looks like what he wants to do.”

Bred in Kentucky by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm and Phillip J. Steinberg, Overtook is by dual Horse of the Year and champion producing sire Curlin and out of the Grade 1-winning A.P. Indy mare Got Lucky, making him a direct descendant of La Troienne. He was purchased for $1 million from the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Re Created on target for $100K Gander

Trainer Rick Schosberg confirmed Re Created will compete in next Sunday’s $100,000 Gander, a one-turn mile for New York-bred sophomores.

Co-owned by Schosberg with Jane M. Schosberg, America's Pastime Stables and Hidden Brook Farm, the dark bay Laoban colt brought $60,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Mixed Sale.

Bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds and Barone’s Sunny Crest, Re Created graduated at third asking when traveling a one-turn mile over a muddy Big A strip on November 27. With Eric Cancel up in the compact three-horse field, Re Created traveled gamely throughout and persevered for a half-length win over Blurt that garnered a 51 Beyer.

“Even though it was a short field, he was challenged the entire way,” said Schosberg. “He was head and head down the backside and put that horse away and then the other horse came and went past him, but he dug in and held on for the win. He learned a lot that day.”

Re Created debuted at Saratoga in September when seventh in a maiden sprint and was a distant fifth when stretched out to a mile on November 1 on a sloppy Belmont main track.

Schosberg said the maturing colt lacked focus and the last-out win earned Re Created a reprieve from a permanent equipment change.

“He was having a little trouble focusing and if he didn't win that race we were going to make him focus - - he was going to be gelded. So, he redeemed himself by winning,” said Schosberg. “I think he just got it. All the Laobans really need that distance of ground. He just has to maintain his focus. He needs something to maintain his interest. Last time it was a three-horse field and he was engaged the entire way.”

Re Created has trained consistently on the Belmont dirt training track out of his maiden score, including a half-mile effort in 51 flat on February 3.

“He's training fantastic,” said Schosberg. “I wanted to get a race into him in-between, but nothing would fill, so it's going to be tough off a long layoff but he's really doing well in the morning. I know there will be other horses with more experience, but he has a puncher's chance in there.”

Probable starters for the Gander include Dancing Buck (Michelle Nevin), Lobsta (Gary Sciacca), Nicky the Vest (Jonathan Thomas), Perfect Munnings (Todd Pletcher), Storm Shooter (Pletcher) and Windy Nations (Mike Maker).

Out of the City Zip mare Mosaico, Re Created is a half-brother to multiple stakes placed My Roxy Girl, who has banked $530,183 in 43 starts.

Schosberg said Ruvies in Time, a 5-year-old daughter of The Factor, will likely aim for an allowance test instead of Saturday’s $100,000 Broadway, a six-furlong sprint for New York-bred fillies and mares 4-years-old and up.

With a record of 19-4-0-3, Ruvies in Time has yet to make her stakes debut, but has shown good form in her last three starts at the Big A, starting with a 5 3/4-length score in a six-furlong state-bred allowance on December 19 which earned a career-best 86 Beyer.

Following a fifth in an optional-claiming sprint on January 9, she returned last out with a frontrunning effort to be third, defeated a length to Elegant Zip, on January 31.

“Her race here the other day she was third and it was an outside closer's track,” said Schosberg, who co-owns the mare with Clear Stars Stable. “She had the rail and the speed and held on gamely for third. I think on any other track she would have held on to win.”

Schosberg said he would prefer not to bring Ruvies in Time back on short rest for the Broadway.

“It's short notice for her,” said Schosberg. “There's an allowance race two weeks after that, which I think she could win.”

Out of the Tapit mare Hollywood Redhead, Ruvies in Time was bred in the Empire State by Mashnee Stables and Steve Schuster.

Schosberg, who also serves as 1st Vice President for the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (NYTHA), oversees NYTHA’s TAKE THE LEAD Thoroughbred Retirement Program (TTL).

The TTL program provides preliminary vet exams and treatment, as well as costs related to transportation and rehabilitation or retraining.

Schosberg said the program continues to thrive as he works daily with horsemen to place horses at facilities accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance [TAA], which inspects and awards grants to approved aftercare organizations using industry-wide funding.

“We're heading towards our 750th horse through the program,” said Schosberg. “We'll have a record number of horses this year. We may reach as many as 200 horses placed in 12 months.”

NYRA and its horsemen are committed supporters of the TAA and Schosberg said the industry-wide support is appreciated.

“It's a necessity for the industry and its self-funded by the industry through the TAA,” said Schosberg. “The organizations that are accredited through the TAA do a fantastic job. It's not easy to get accreditation and it's not easy retaining it. The work that has to be done to accredit these organizations is very tough, but the work we do is very rewarding and the results speak for themselves.”

Every owner competing at NYRA racetracks donates $10 per start to the TAA, which accredits and funds the aftercare organizations that provide homes for retired racehorses. New York’s horsemen also donate 1.5 percent of the purchase price of every horse claimed at a NYRA track to TTL and the TAA.

To learn more about TTL, visit https://www.take2tbreds.com/about-take-the-lead/.

Cross Country Pick 5 handles $123K; pays $872.50

Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5, featuring stakes action from Aqueduct Racetrack and Tampa Bay Downs, paid $872.50 for selecting all five winners for the 50-cent wager. The sequence's total pool was $123,055.

Aqueduct started the wager when Dublinornothin upset favorite Mabel Island in a seven-furlong allowance race for New York-bred fillies and mares 4-years-old and up. The Eduardo Jones trainee rallied from fourth in the stretch under jockey Andre Worrie to post a half-length victory. Dublinornothin returned $19 on a $2 win wager.

Curlin’s Catch started the sequence’s stakes portion with a 4 1/2-length score in the Suncoast for 3-year-old fillies going a mile and 40 yards on the Tampa Bay main track. Conditioned by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Curlin’s Catch sat off the pace before drawing away under Antonio Gallardo as the favorite. She paid $5.60.

Aqueduct hosted a Kentucky Derby prep race with the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers in Race 8, which Risk Taking won by 3 3/4 lengths. Risk Taking, trained by Chad Brown, was expertly ridden by Eric Cancel, who earned his third career graded stakes win as his charge picked up 10 qualifying points for the “Run for the Roses.” The favorite returned $5.80.

Just minutes later, Brown added another stakes win with a favorite owned by Klaravich Stables, as Counterparty Risk outkicked New York Girl by one length to win the Grade 3 Endeavour at Tampa Bay. Piloted by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, Counterparty Risk won the 1 1/16-mile turf contest for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up, paying $3.80.

Tampa Bay concluded the sequence with Candy Man Rocket winning the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis for sophomores going 1 1/16 miles on the main track in a race that, like the Withers, awarded 10-4-2-1 Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers. Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott’s Candy Man Rocket defeated Nova Rags by one length under jockey Junior Alvarado. The 3-1 selection returned $8.20.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on track, on ADW platforms, and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.