Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey looks to have a strong hand in Aqueduct Racetrack’s early turf stakes, with
Boisterous aiming to defend his title in the Grade 2, 1 3/8-mile Red Smith Handicap on opening Saturday and
Hit It Rich looking to repeat in the Grade 3 Long Island Handicap a week later.
Both horses worked
Sunday morning, with Boisterous covering a half-mile over the inner turf
in 48.19 and Hit It Rich clocked in 51.03 for the same distance.
Boisterous was sent in company with Breeders’ Cup Turf
hopeful Point of Entry, who was timed in 47.64.
“Boisterous is doing
really, really good,” McGaughey said of the 5-year-old son of Distorted
Humor. “He came out of his last race really good and he was dying to
work.”
Boisterous picked up a repeat victory in the Grade 3 Knickerbocker at
Belmont
Park on October 13, which followed a
ninth-place finish in the Grade 1 Arlington Million in August. Owned by
Phipps Stable, he has four graded stakes wins to his credit.
“I didn’t want to do
too much with him in between races, so I waited until today,” McGaughey
said. “He worked really well and he ran so good in there last year, I’m
hoping he can do it again.”
According to NYRA Stakes Coordinator Andrew Byrnes,
Bombaguia,
Hailstone, Queens’splatekitten, and
Westside Corral are also targeting the Red Smith.
Hit It Rich, a multiple Grade 3 winner, will attempt to cap her career with a second victory in the 1 ½-mile
Long Island on November 10. Campaigned
by Stuart Janney, III, she most recently finished ninth in the Grade 1
Flower Bowl Invitational on September 29 at
Belmont.
“She’ll run in the
Long Island and that will be it for her,” McGaughey said. “She’s got a date with War Front.”