Sprinters Headline Gotham Undercard

Sprinters headline the Gotham Day undercard at Aqueduct Racetrack Saturday in a pair of six-furlong races - the Grade 3, $100,000 Toboggan, for older horses, and the $65,000 Fred “Cappy” Capossela, restricted to 3-year-olds.

In the 117^th running of the Toboggan, scheduled as race four on the 11-race card, Stetson Stables’ speedy 4-year-old Wall Street Wonder will try for his first graded stakes win in only his fourth start on dirt.

Unraced at two, the City Place colt broke his maiden running over the Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita last January and spent most of his sophomore season running on turf, where he performed credibly. 

Given an audition on dirt in a first-level allowance race over the Big A’s inner track on December 12 by new trainer John Terranova, Wall Street Wonder came away a two-length winner, beating Rereadthefootnotes, who would go on to win his next two starts, including the Hollie Hughes Stakes at Aqueduct on February 15.

Wall Street Wonder impressed again in the six-furlong Paumonok on January 23, winning by 8½ lengths and helping to cement Terranova’s belief that he might have a very good dirt sprinter in the barn.

“We thought he was on the verge of a breakout race before the Paumonok, but he kind of blew our minds that day,” Terranova said.  “He came back well and just keeps getting stronger and stronger.  We’ve given him plenty of time since then, but he didn’t seem fazed at all.  I was thinking of training him up to the Carter (Grade 1, 7 furlongs, April 3), but he’s in such great shape right now.  He’s doing too good not to run him.”

Wall Street Wonder will face a field of four others, including Avalon Farms’ Custom for Carlos and Repole Stable’s Driven by Success. 

Custom for Carlos exits back-to-back stakes wins, most recently prevailing in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream Park on January 9.  He will break from the inside carrying high weight of 123 pounds including jockey Julien Leparoux. 

Driven by Success, fifth as the favorite in the Paumonok, will make his first start for new trainer Todd Pletcher on Saturday.  While in the care of Bruce Levine, the 5-year-old New York-bred son of Precise End held his own in the company of top sprinters, including a third-place finish behind last year’s champion sprinter Kodiak Kowboy and Fabulous Strike in the 2009 Carter. 

Darley Stable’s Elusive Warning, an allowance winner at Gulfstream on January 31 and Joseph Strazzanti’s Crimson Comic, looking for his first win since June, complete the field.  

The 109^th running of the Fred “Cappy” Capossela, race three of eleven - has drawn six, led by Samuel F. Bayard’s Westover Wildcat.

A dark bay son of Forest Wildcat, Westover Wildcat exits a solid third-place finish behind stablemate A Little Warm and Wildcat Frankie in the six-furlong Spectacular Bid Stakes at Gulfstream Park on January 9.  Last year, he finished fifth in the Grade 1 Three Chimneys Hopeful at Saratoga Race Course behind Triple Crown hopefuls Dublin and Aikenite. 

“He’s raced with some very good horses and he’s always run well,” said trainer Tony Dutrow.  “He’ll get some class relief here, and that certainly helps.  I’m expecting a very good effort from him, because he’s an honest horse and he always tries hard.”

The high weight at 122 pounds, Westover Wildcat gets the services of New York’s leading rider, Ramon Dominguez, who has ridden him to both of his career wins, including a 2¾-length score in the Bold Lad Stakes at Belmont Park on October 25. 

Golden Ghost, second to Westover Wildcat in the Bold Lad and unraced since, will ship in to challenge him again.  Owned by Steeplechase Farm and trained by Michael Gorham, the son of Ghostzapper  will be ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado.

Darley Stable’s Liston will try to rebound from a strange outing in his last start, when a loose rival impeded his progress throughout a first-level allowance contest here on February 17.

Completing the field are John Moirano’s Castaneda and Max Polin’s Confidence Crisis, both recent maiden winners, and Kinsman Stable’s Strapping Groom, victorious in a first-level allowance race at Philadelphia Park on February 13. 

The field for the Grade 3 Toboggan:

The field for the $65,000 Fred “Cappy” Capossela