Road to the 2026 BCBC: week 1

Week 1 starts at Aqueduct, Friday 21/11/2025

Kevin Gazzale

Week 1 of my trip starts with a $20 feeder qualifier at Aqueduct, races 2-9. For those of you who don’t know, you select one horse per race for a mythical $2 WP bet. It looks like the weather is good, the fields are pretty big, and they’re on the grass, so let’s jump in.

Race 2 – Give me 5 Zuby at 2/1, lots of speed signed up, she seems comfortable being slightly off the pace and should be able to get into the top 2 at least.

Race 3 – 1 Midnight Glimmer gets a trainer change who could make a step forward, first start in 6 months, good work with regular spacing, well behaved although he probably prefers grass but let’s take a stab at 6/1.

Race 4 – 5 Emirates Road, consistent grades, good trainer/jock combination, highest current class at Brisnet, has completed the full distance before and run well, 7/2 is suitable.

Race 5 – 6 Whiskey Runner, field of 8 MC30k, 4 are starters, ML favorite is at 4/5, let’s have a go at 9/2, Weaver has him doing some decent work, well distributed.

Race 6 – 6 Diliello, Morley 2^i.e outside the statement, knight has good numbers, trip line notes he is more of a late runner coming for 3^rdrecent stable 3F work, which is relatively new for this horse, chances are we will see them more up front today and get closer to the jump. 7/2 we’ll take it.

Race 7 – 9 Another Cleeshay, you always get a spirited ride from Christopher Elliot, at least you can count on that. Likes to get away from it, a little speed is registered and the other pressers/closers don’t scare me. Favorite 3 Sassy Princess looks like she wants grass. Give me the 9 at a price that won at this distance at this level last time. 2^i.e race of a two-month layoff, continues with solid, regularly spaced work.

Race 8 – 7 Lika Rolling Stone, time rolls on and that’s exactly what I expect in this version, again lots of speed logged and most of it is cut to longer. I usually try to avoid those horses because for me those frontrunners at 9F and above lose their endurance advantage over other horses that go shorter. The last time I was on board with Elliot he allowed this horse to sit closer, which I think he will do again. 3F bullet work last week makes me think she’ll be ready to roll.

Race 9 – 2 Grandpa Joe, 2^i.e try after a year plus layoff, come back, the race was decent, then the race went straight back to the work tab and is back in, either the owners want this horse out yesterday or they think he’s ready to run. Nearly all of the front-end speed here extends from 6f, which will be difficult to overcome and will wire the field. 8 Before the Wind is a decent favorite with decent numbers, but I can’t pretend to have a good opinion when I take the 2-1 against a trainer who has 83 starts in 2025 in an MC50k nightcap at Aqueduct in November, are you crazy? Give me Manny/Rudy at 6/1 and I can start preparing for Saturday’s qualifying.

Thanks for reading!