The Week in Review: Aberrational Clockings Shouldn’t Obscure Top-Notch Aqueduct Efforts

[Wandering Eyes]

Grade I racing on the East Coast has now settled into hibernation mode for the rest of the year, and after this coming Saturday’s pair of Grade I events for juveniles at Los Alamitos, the entire continent won’t see a Grade I until opening day at Santa Anita Dec. 26.

But the quartet of graded stakes action at Aqueduct Dec. 1, plus the GI Hollywood Derby at Del Mar, injected a touch of late-season intrigue that will whet the appetite for how the pecking order might shape up in several divisions as the calendar flips to 2019.

Yet the catch is that you have to look past some quirky clockings in the New York races to get a clearer picture of the true efforts of the Aqueduct winners on Saturday.

The wire job by Patternrecognition (Adios Charlie) in the GI Cigar Mile H. might be recalled months from now as the big coming-out party for the oft-sidelined 5-year-old, who, despite a series of training setbacks since winning on debut in April of 2017, has racked up a 5-5-0 record from 11 lifetime starts.

Patternrecognition was always the controlling factor through demanding splits (:22.88, :45.68, 1:09.68) before staying on resolutely when ganged up on at the head of the lane. Saturday’s winning time of 1:34.98 marked his second consecutive graded win after stepping up out of the allowance/optional claiming ranks.

Trainer Chad Brown said Sunday that the GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park Jan. 26 is now under consideration for the Cigar Mile victor.

Patternrecognition’s quick turn of early foot over a Florida racing surface that is generally perceived as kind to frontrunners could make him an enticing proposition in the nine-furlong Pegasus.

But pragmatists will note that, despite earning triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in five of his last six races, Patternrecognition remains unraced around two turns, as his three career starts at a mile and one at 1 1/16 miles have all come over one-turn track configurations at Belmont Park and Aqueduct.

It’s also worth noting that Patternrecognition’s last two wins in the Cigar Mile and GII Kelso H. came in races where the heavy favorite failed to mount a serious bid: Battle of Midway (Smart Strike) was off the board at even money in the Kelso, and Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) was retired to stud Sunday after his non-threatening fourth at 1.7-1 in the Cigar Mile.

While Patternrecognition’s fractional clockings and final time certainly look legit, moving forward it will be tricky to gauge Saturday’s other three graded Aqueduct stakes based on fractional and final times alone. Despite a dry track labeled “fast,” the earlier races on the card produced lethargic, head-scratchingly slow pace numbers.

Positive Spirit (Pioneerof the Nile), the juvenile half-sister to 2017 GI Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister), stalked in third despite getting hung out four wide on both turns of the GII Demoiselle S. The robust-framed filly was roused energetically off the final turn, but was wrapped up late after polishing off her all-out rivals 10 1/2 lengths clear of the pack.

But her final time of 1:56.01 represents the slowest clocking of the Demoiselle since the race stretched out to nine furlongs in 1975, and no other edition of the race has ever produced a time above 1:54.60. Clearly this is an aberration related to the track surface, and it would be wise to give credit to Positive Spirit more for how she ran her winning race rather than “how fast.”

By contrast, the winning effort by undefeated ‘TDN Rising Star’ Maximus Mischief (Into Mischief) in the GII Remsen S. yielded a more realistic clocking of 1:51.34.

But even though you could make the argument that the Aqueduct main track seemed to speed up as the Saturday program went on, “Max” forced the fray through two relatively uninspiring opening quarters of :25.12 and :25.55 before seizing control by cracking the pesky longshot Tax (Arch) and having enough late energy left in the tank to fend off 1.15-1 favorite Network Effect (Mark Valeski).

Yet again, don’t put too much emphasis on the internal splits of the Remsen. Instead, the focus should be on how relaxed Max was when racing among rivals through the clubhouse bend in his two-turn debut and how he responded willingly when set down for the drive in the lane.

Maximus Mischief has returned to his home stable at Parx, but plans are in the works for the colt to winter in Florida for a planned attack on the Gulfstream Park sophomore prep path to the Kentucky Derby.

The biggest against-the-grain challenge for Maximus Mischief moving forward might have to more to do with bucking history than anything else. In the last 55 years, only three horses–Thunder Gulch, Go For Gin and Pleasant Colony–have successfully parlayed the Remsen into a blanket of roses on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs.

The need to look beyond Saturday’s befuddling Aqueduct clockings also applies to Marley’s Freedom (Blame), who rebounded back from 9-10 beaten favoritism in the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint a month ago to nail a hard-fought, odds-on neck victory in the GIII Go For Wand H.

Considering that an uncharacteristically slow start is what compromised her chances in the Breeders’ Cup (fourth, beaten only half a length), jockey Mike Smith wasted no time in asserting an intimidating stalking spot outside of a longshot pacemaker, ratcheting up the pressure from an initial opening quarter of :25.27 to a far faster second split of :23.29.

Marley’s Freedom advanced in hand to commandeer the lead 2 1/2 furlongs out, then appeared to relish the pressure of a prolonged stretch drive with Come Dancing (Malibu Moon), who earned style points for her own resolute, runner-up effort. The top two hit the wire 6 3/4 lengths clear of the remainder of the overmatched field, stopping the timer in 1:38.35 for the one-turn mile.

Trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday that the California-based Marley’s Freedom could be aimed for longer races in 2019, with an eventual target of nine furlongs to see if that distance might be a sweet spot

Shipping in the reverse direction, Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}), went from the East Coast to the West Saturday to annex the GI Hollywood Derby in authoritative, off-the-pace fashion on closing weekend at Del Mar.

“I thought I was on the best horse, so I rode him that way,” said winning jockey Joel Rosario. “With him, he has a powerful quarter-mile kick at the end. Terrific acceleration. So I just needed to keep him outside; keep him in the clear where I could ride him at the finish. It worked out just the way I’d hoped.”

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