OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The connections of Igniter weren’t necessarily looking to cut their colt farther back in distance. They were just looking for a race.
In Saturday’s $135,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct, the connections of Igniter appear to have found the ideal race to find out how effective their son of Volatile can be at six furlongs.
“Three-quarters may be his game, I don’t know,” said Rick Dutrow, who trains Igniter for Three Chimneys Farm. “We’re happy to do this because it does not look like a tough spot. I’m confident he’s going to show up.”
Igniter will face only four rivals in the Winkfield, which could be used as a stepping-stone to the $150,000 Bay Shore Stakes going seven furlongs on April 18. Igniter is coming off a 4 1/4-length first-level allowance win at seven furlongs on Feb. 11, two months after he finished sixth behind Paladin in the Grade 2 Remsen going 1 1/8 miles.
“I saw him making a run in the middle of the turn, but he just couldn’t finish it up,” Dutrow said of the Remsen. “We went back to seven-eighths, and at the five-eighths pole, you just knew he had them. We’ll be able to learn more about him after this race.”
Though Igniter’s lone defeat came at six furlongs, it was in a race last summer at Saratoga in which two other horses – Oscar’s Hope and Glorious Boy – not only came back to win their maidens, but went on to win stakes. Manny Franco rides Igniter from post 4 in this five-horse field.
Easy Decision’s 6 1/4-length debut victory here on Feb. 11 was not as easy as it may look on paper. Easy Decision dueled on the lead early with 74-1 shot Lord King but dropped back a few spots on the far turn. In upper stretch, Reylu Gutierrez got Easy Decision off the fence and into the three path, and he re-rallied to win going away.
Easy Decision, trained by Amelia Green for Mike Repole, earned a solid 81 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.
“I definitely didn’t like the checking and going around and switching paths, but luckily it worked out good,” Green said. “I thought that was quite impressive the way he dropped down and accelerated to the wire.”
Gutierrez rides Easy Decision from post 2.
Trainer Linda Rice claimed Tiger Rocket for $50,000 out of a maiden-claiming victory last Saturday and has supplemented him to the Winkfield. The win came when previous trainer Brad Cox equipped the Munnings gelding with blinkers for the first time. Jose Lezcano rides from the rail.
Rachel Sells sends out Blue Forty, who rallied from last, 11 lengths back, to finish second 4 1/4 lengths behind Igniter in what was Blue Forty’s first start for Sells. Christopher Elliott retains the mount.
The New York-bred Time to Roll cuts back to six furlongs after finishing a well-beaten third behind Arctic Beast in the seven-furlong Damon Runyon Stakes here on Feb. 14. That was his first start after an off-the-pace victory in a first-level statebred allowance last December.
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