OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Had the 12th race on Aug. 9 at Saratoga been run at its correct distance, a case could be made that Charles J would have won. But when it was run at 1 1/16 miles rather than its scheduled 1 1/8 miles, Charles J’s late rally fell three-quarters of a length short and he finished third behind Fidelightcayut.
Charles J, still in search of his first win of 2025, makes his first start since that infamous day in Friday’s featured first-level New York-bred allowance scheduled to be run at 1 1/16 miles over Aqueduct’s inner turf course.
Joe Lee, the trainer of Charles J, said the fact that his horse lost that race wasn’t so much a function of distance but of how the race was run.
“If you start the race where it should have been started, some of those horses that don’t want to go a mile and an eighth, they’re going to start fading at the three-eighths or 2 1/2-[furlong] pole,” Lee said. “As it was, they went slowish and they were all bottled up so we were kind of stuck with nowhere to go. Finally, he got out and was coming. It’s just a different race.
“In other words, if he could’ve moved a little sooner that would have helped us a little bit.”
A quicker pace that stretches the field on Friday would benefit Charles J, who will be ridden by Dylan Davis. Terminal Velocity, who set the pace and held Charles J off by a nose for second on Aug. 9, owns a front-running maiden victory here in June. Jose Gomez replaces the injured Jose Lezcano on Terminal Velocity, who is trained by Lisa Bartkowski.
Annexperience, a 7 3/4-length, front-running winner of a July 17 maiden race at Saratoga, was bumped and taken up soon after the start of his first try in this condition on Aug. 17.
Outtawaterbury, beaten a nose in this condition on Aug. 21 at Saratoga, finished just behind Charles J when the two were third and fourth in this condition at Saratoga on July 20.
Iron Max has won two straight and seemingly meets tougher here. Real Savvy raced a bit keenly and was steadied sharply when a horse cut in front of him in upper stretch as he finished seven lengths back as the favorite on Aug. 17 at Saratoga.
◗ Friday’s co-feature is a second-level allowance/optional $45,000 claiming race for New York-breds scheduled for one mile on dirt.
Aggregation, trained by Chad Brown, came off a 15-month layoff with a huge runner-up performance in this condition on Aug. 16. Palace Boss, who finished third in that race without an excuse, is also back in this spot as are Get a Job, Cicciobello, and Mighty Atlas, the fourth-, sixth-, and seventh-place finishers from that same race.
Buttah, beaten a neck by George Briggs in the off-the-turf Cab Calloway division of the New York Stallion Series on Aug. 14, drew well on the outside of this seven-horse field as he takes a slight drop in class. Kendrick Carmouche rides for Gary Sciacca.
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