O’Dwyer Considering Lecomte, Withers for Shotski

[Wandering Eyes]

Appearing on this week’s TDN Writer’s Room podcast, trainer Jeremiah O’Dwyer said that GII Remsen S. winner Shotski (Blame) will make his next appearance in either the GIII Lecomte S. at the Fair Grounds or the GIII Withers S. at Aqueduct. The Withers is scheduled for Feb. 1 and the Lecomte is set for Jan. 18.

“Obviously, it is exciting,” O’Dwyer said. “It’s a logical thing to think you have a [GI] Kentucky Derby horse after winning a race like the Remsen, where you get 10 Kentucky Derby points. We’re going to freshen him up a little bit and want to give him six to eight weeks. We will either go to the Fair Grounds for the Lecomte S. or back to Aqueduct for the Withers. They are the two immediate races we have in our sights. I’ll keep him at Laurel and train him there, as long as the weather doesn’t get nasty. I do have stalls at the Fair Grounds, so I can always ship him down there if need be. If he does run in the Lecomte, I’ll ship him down there when I see fit.”

Though he broke his maiden going six furlongs at Laurel, Shotski seemed to thrive when stretched out to nine furlongs in the two-turn Remsen.

“Even when we first got him, we always thought he’d be a nice two-turn horse,” O’Dwyer said. “Most of the better two-turn horses can win going short. They have to have some tactical speed if they are going to compete at a higher level, which I feel he proved he can. He won a sprint at Laurel going in1:10. And, at the same time, when you stretch him out he relaxes and can get the distance. He certainly proved that when he won the Remsen.”

Shotski was the first graded stakes winner for the trainer.

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