Aqueduct January 23

Most Likely Winners: 3rd race, 2 Solly’s Mischief   5th race, 1 Golden Story

Potential Price Horses: 1st race, 2 Futurazo   4th race, 8 Scorpion’s Touch   6th race, 5 My Savannah Belle   8th race, 4 Ghost Ship

Race 1      2- 7-1

Futurazo is listed at 12-1 on the ML. He had been racing at FL at ALW levels with decent success. He switched trainers to the low key Greg Matties who brought him to AQU in an ALW NW1X. He stumbled badly at the break last out, rushed to be up with the leaders, and expectedly faded.  He gets a jockey switch to Chuck Lopez and that should help him exploit his natural speed. Most Happy Fella closed well against Southern Proper for Chris Englehart but was re-claimed out of that race by Schosberg who had lost him the race before. He has a little trouble getting up for the win but Schosberg has given him enough work to keep him on edge. Vegas No Show seems the better of the two Jacobson horses. He has a way with first time claims and drops this one in half for the race.

Race 2       2-5-4

Jackie Black was claimed in early December by Linda Rice after leading for a half and fading in the stretch. I’m looking for some improvement today on the stretch out. Kool Charli has had two shots in the MCL ranks and drops a bit in price in search of the win. Golden Starlet makes her sixth start of Violette and switches to Manny Franco for this trip. Only has one good race in her PP so may be a bit of chance

Race 3       2-1A-3

Solly’s Mischief hasn’t run a bad race in a year and hasn’t been overraced in that time. Claimed last out by Abby Adsit who has done well with her claims. Distant Thoughts looks to be the better of the two in the entry for Scott Schwartz. Horse stumbled at the start last out and lost all chance, but still showed interest in the race. Straight Bite has two wins, both on a wet track. Still has the figures to be competitive in this field.

Race 4        8-5-1

Scorpion’s Touch had one start on the AQU main and ran evenly. Has come back with a nice series of works including two bullets in his last two. Boldlee gets first lasix after a clunker in his last on the AQU turf. His best race was on a sloppy BEL dirt at today’s distance. May show some spark today. Lehigh Five is one of the first timers and goes for Violette. Bullet in his last work suggests readiness.

Race 5        1-5-3

Jacobson leaves Golden Story in the race and scratches entrymate Big Lute. Golden Story has been almost exclusively on the turf and the synthetic, but I’m going to trust that Jacobson knows what he is doing by leaving him in instead of the 1A. Shot to Win goes for Dominick Shettino. Last out was a good effort, even though it cam two months ago. With Big Lute out he may inherit the front end. Kitchen Police hadn’t raced in close to a year and came out on a sloppy inner where he showed very little. Was claimed by Naipaul Chatterpaul. The switch to Guillermo Rodriguez doesn’t seem to be a positive but he has some races in his PP’s that could be competitive in this field.

Race 6        5-1-3

My Savannah Belle won her first two starts, one on the inner last March. Has a nice series of works for his return including a bullet 12 days ago, same pattern as when he won his last race. Like the tracking style. Had It All has a good lifetime record and some strong figures at Parx. She has high early speed and is not fainthearted in the stretch, so they’ll have to work hard to get by her. Pennymine has been a useful runner for Schosberg and should be one of the ones coming in the stretch.

Race 7        1-6-5

Laura Can Disco makes her fourth lifetime start. She has done nothing but run, and has the best last race number in the field. Champagne Ruby has been in nothing but statebred stakes and has been in and out. Has one lifetime start on the inner with a second place finish. Should benefit if the front runners falter. La Bella Victoria is the other speed and has an affinity for the inner. The powerful Jose Ortiz gets the mount and he has been dynamite on the horse.

Race 8        4-8-10

Ghost Ship ran evenly in his first out but jumps up from MCL to MSW today. Has a real shot at 10-1 ML in what looks like a really competitive field. Call Me Stoney should be toward the front. Levine has kept him on the training track so he should be ready for this one. Watch the Tie will be coming in the stretch and improvement from his last should put him in the mix at the end.