OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though he’s developed a reputation of a Colonial Downs turf course specialist, Integration ran arguably the best race of his career last fall at Aqueduct winning the Grade 2 Hill Prince, equaling a course record for 1 1/8 miles in the process.
While Integration’s 4-year-old season has been a tad disappointing, he returns to Aqueduct where he has a chance to end it on a strong note in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Red Smith Stakes at 1 3/8 miles.
Integration, a 4-year-old son of Quality Road, has gone 1 for 6 this year with a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Arlington Million, his lone defeat in four starts at Colonial Downs. He is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2, $2 million Kentucky Turf Cup on Aug. 31 where jockey Kendrick Carmouche gave up the rail to go outside and found traffic while Grand Sonata rallied up the fence to get the win.
“I thought he ran fine. He didn’t have a real free trip; it cost him,” trainer Shug McGaughey said.
In last year’s Hill Prince, Integration ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.06. The course record of 1:47.00 was set by Slew the Dragon in 1985 when times were not recorded in hundredths.
The 1 3/8 miles of the Red Smith will be farthest Integration has run, though his second-place finish to Nations Pride in the Arlington Million run at 1 1/4 miles was one of his better races.
“I thought he ran good in the Arlington Million,” McGaughey said. “Just maybe a better horse beat him.”
Flavien Prat will ride Integration on Saturday.
McGaughey also runs Limited Liability, who is coming off an 8 1/4-length victory in the Nashville Gold Cup, run at 2 1/16 miles.
“This is the longest race I could find,” McGaughey said about cutting him back to 11 furlongs in the Red Smith.
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The 8-year-old Master Piece, trained by Rick Dutrow, won the Red Smith last year and his lone win this year came in the Grade 2 Fort Marcy run over Aqueduct’s turf course. He spent the summer in Southern California, where he ran twice at Del Mar before finishing third, beaten one length by Cabo Spirit, in the John Henry Turf Cup at Santa Anita.
Dutrow also sends out Pioneering, a horse he claimed for $62,500 out of a runner-up effort on Oct. 19 at Aqueduct, where the horse has a 0-1-1 record from eight starts.
Curbstone is shortening up after running second in the two-mile John Forbes Stakes at the Far Hills meet on Oct. 19.
City Man, a 7-year-old New York-bred, is wheeling back on short rest following a second-place finish in the Mohawk Stakes against statebreds on Oct. 27.
The 6-year-old Adhamo, who won the Grade 1 United Nations in 2022 but is winless in nine starts since, shows up a first-time gelding for trainer Chad Brown.
Rebel Red, won a second-level allowance at Keeneland going 1 1/8 miles on Oct. 5.
Daunt has lost 14 straight races, a streak that began with a fourth-place finish in the 2022 Red Smith and includes a seventh-place finish in the 2023 running of this race.
The Red Smith goes as race 9 on a 10-race card that begins at 11:40 a.m.
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