OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A quartet of allowance races – two scheduled for turf and two for the dirt – highlight a solid nine-race card Friday at Aqueduct.
Trainer Shug McGaughey looks to have significant chances in two of those allowance events when he runs Battle of Normandy in a conditioned allowance/optional $80,000 claimer going 1 1/16 miles on turf and Pentathlon in a first-level allowance scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on dirt.
Battle of Normandy, a 4-year-old son of City of Light, has won two consecutive allowance races on turf, one at 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct in June and one going 1 3/8 miles at Saratoga in July. McGaughey said he was looking to run Battle of Normandy in another long-distance race at Kentucky Downs but the horse couldn’t get into the field.
Thus, he has to shorten him up to 1 1/16 miles against five rivals on Friday.
“I think he’ll be fine. He’ll lay up close enough,” McGaughey said when asked about the shorter trip.
Battle of Normandy has been equipped with blinkers in his last three starts – the first of which he finished last in an off-the-turf race at Churchill Downs in April – including his front-running win here.
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“I think they helped,” McGaughey said. “Let him focus and lay up in the race a little better.”
Joel Rosario rides.
Utah Beach won two allowance races earlier this year for trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Correas, though he is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Louisville at Churchill in May. That race was his first off Lasix and the only time in eight starts he has finished worse than second. Utah Beach gets back on Lasix Friday.
Chad Brown shortens Andthewinneris up in distance after a well-beaten third-place finish in the John’s Call going 1 5/8 miles. Brown also starts Kubrick, who drops back into allowance company after three stakes tries following an allowance victory at Tampa Bay Downs in March.
Pioneering Spirit and Highestdistinction round out the field for this event, which goes as race 2.
In race 7, McGaughey sends Pentathlon out against winners coming off a 3 1/2-length maiden win going one mile at Saratoga. Pentathlon is by Speightstown but his dam, Parade, did win going 1 1/8 miles.
“He’s training really good, we’ll just have to see going a mile and an eighth,” McGaughey said. “I think he’ll lay up fairly close in the race.”
Digital Ops beat Pentathlon by a head in a June 30 maiden race going a mile before finishing fourth, beaten 3 1/4 lengths, going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 17.
Paddington, trained by Linda Rice is a two-time winner going 1 1/8 miles and hasn’t been out since June 22, when he finished fourth, eight lengths behind Unmatched Wisdom in this same condition.
In the other two allowance races on the card:
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◗ St. Benedicts Prep, trained by Linda Rice, aims for her third consecutive allowance win in this conditioned allowance/optional $80,000 claimer for fillies and mares at seven furlongs.
Among her rivals is Dream Concert, trained by Kathleen O’Connell. Through Wednesday, O’Connell’s 2,506 wins were the most by a female trainer. Rice is second with 2,496.
◗ In race 8, a first-level allowance scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf, Vino Rouge will try to bounce back after being disqualified from victory for interference in this condition at Saratoga on Aug. 16. Friday’s field includes three horses – Dancing Dean, Pretty Ana, and Toy Collector – who finished behind Vino Rouge that day.
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