January 8, 2024
TORONTO — By Matthew Lomon
Nobody Compares
It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing for 2-1 choice Comparative, but the 4-year-old filly got the job done late to capture career stakes win number one at Aqueduct on Saturday.
Battling with 7-2 challenger Saddle Up Jessie for the top spot in the $150,000 Ladies Stakes, Comparative trailed the entire way before sliding ahead in the final sixteenth to win by a neck.
The hard-fought score was the fourth win in the last five tries for the Brad Cox trainee, who’s now found her way into the money 70 percent of the time. Through 10 career starts, Comparative is 4-0-3.
The win paid $6.20.
In Control
Drum Roll Please and veteran rider Javier Castellano didn’t show any signs of panic after falling behind early in Saturday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct.
The favored pair (3-5) improved their position gradually before exploding to the front of the five-horse field for a clear 3 ¾-length victory.
It was a promising start to the 3-year-old’s sophomore campaign after coming on strong in the latter part of 2023. Drum Roll Please went 1-1-1 in his final three starts, including a third-place finish in the Remsen Stakes (G2) on Dec. 2.
The second Brad Cox disciple to win a stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday paid $3.20.
Surging Star
How good is 3-year-old colt Muth? Through five career starts (3-2-0), he’s already a multiple graded stakes winner, including the American Pharoah (G1), and exceeded $700,000 in earnings.
A dynamite performance in this past Saturday’s $200,000 San Vicente (G2) at Santa Anita was the latest in a long line of impressive showings. Closing at 2-5, the Bob Baffert protégé took care of business by holding off another Baffert runner, Pilot Commander (3-1), by 2 ¾ lengths to pay $2.80.
If he wasn’t already, Muth will certainly be a name to keep an eye on in 2024.
Blocking out the Noise
Oddsmakers and bettors, alike, weren’t too high on Tocayo’s chances in the $125,000 Dania Beach Stakes after a rough eighth place showing last time out in the Pulpit.
Clearly, none of that impacted the 3-year-old’s confidence as he was able to pull off the upset on Saturday afternoon for his first career stakes score at 13-1.
Team with Jorge Ruiz, Tocayo showed incredible poise and stamina during a front-leading one-mile run over the Gulfstream turf. The most impressive win of the Maryland-bred’s 11-race career was his third overall and eighth total time hitting the podium (3-3-2).
Tocayo’s brilliant effort paid a healthy $29.80.
Flowin’ Like Water
It’s already a bad time of year to be a bottle of bubbly, and Into Champagne, a 3-year-old filly bred in Kentucky made things a whole lot worse on Sunday afternoon.
The Ian Wilkes trainee authored a textbook performance to take home the Glitter Woman at Gulfstream for her first ever stakes tally. After patiently stalking the pack in the early going, Into Champagne and rider Julian Leparoux took control down the stretch en route to a 1 ¼-length win.
With the Glitter Woman hit, Into Champagne is now a perfect 2-0-0 to start her young career. For getting the job done on Sunday, she rewarded bettors with a $3.40 win return.
