Two surface winners weigh the risks, NYRA photo
Christian Abdo
Klaravich Stables’ Weigh the risks is 3-for-4 this year and is in top form competing in Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Go for Wand, a one-turn mile for fillies and mares 3 years and older, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Trained by five-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, the four-year-old Mendelssohn Chestnut made six of her first seven starts on grass, yielding just one win, but has shown significant improvement since returning to the dirt for her last five outings.
Weighing the risks, returning to dirt five starts ago last November, an optional claimer dominated over Saturday’s course and distance by nine lengths. She then contested two more one-turn miles here and won an optional claimer in January, before a 6 1/4-length second to Bernietakescharge in the Heavenly Prize Invitational in February.
“She’s really come around since we just let her run on dirt,” Brown said. “We have given her some time to develop. This seems to be her level. She is a solid horse on the list, I think. The distance should not be a problem for her. I am very happy with how she is coming into the race.”
Weigh the Risks’ last two attempts were at seven furlongs, overpowering an optional claims field at Saratoga Race Course in July that produced a career and best 101 Beyer Speed Figure, and capturing the Listed Pumpkin Pie by 1 1/4 lengths, last here on November 8.
“The Mendelssohns I’ve had have been successful on the grass, so I just followed that path at first,” Brown said. “It didn’t take long, and after some feedback from jockeys, I thought let’s try her on the ground again. Grass might not have been what she was looking for, we can’t hold the ground very well, so we put her back on the ground and she hasn’t looked back.”
Weigh the risks [post 3, Manny Franco] completed her preparations Sunday with a half-mile breeze in 49.83 seconds around Belmont Park’s dirt training track.
“She did a good job. She had maintenance work,” Brown said. “We’re looking forward to bringing her in here. She’s had a solid season.”
Bred in Kentucky by Porta Pia Stables, a $205,000 purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Fall Yearling Sale, Weigh the Risks is a half-sister to dual stakes winner Cheapskate Diva out of the Candy Ride mare Beautiful Liar. Her second mother is the 3rd class Forty Moves.
Repole Stable’s grade 3 winner Scalable [post 2, Kendrick Carmouche] closed from 10 lengths back and last from 7 for a third of 1 3/4 lengths to weigh the risks in the pumpkin pie. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the 4-year-old Speightstown gray captured the seven-furlong Interborough here in January, leading by a sixth after an eight-month layoff in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom in September before her final attempt.
“The Pumpkin Pie, she was too far back,” Pletcher said. “She made a good late run. We’re hoping the extra eighth of a mile will help her. It looks like it should suit her well.”
One of eight seed campaigns last year, Scalable captured the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks on the namesake oval in July. Scalable was a $200,000 purchase at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the Tapit mare Passion Flower, a half-sister to the Pletcher-trained multiple Grade 1 winner Stop Chargingmaria. She is 14-4-1-2 overall and has $529,878 in earnings.
Pletcher captured this race last year, then a Grade 3, with Tizzy in the Sky. His previous winners include Ashado [2005]Spun sugar [2006] and Royal Lahaina [2013].
RT Racing Stables Just Katherine [post 5, Sahin Civaci] returns from a layoff of more than a year to an optional half-length claim score sprinting seven furlongs here last September. The 5-year-old Justify Bay, trained by Jose Jimenez, was a close second to the Brown-trained Accede in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses at the Big A last June.
Just Katherine has stepped up to the plate in 10 of 15 career starts, posting a 4-3-3 record. Her best Beyer is a 94 for a second by 1 1/2 lengths after the subsequent double Grade 1-winning Brown-trained Millionaire randomized in the one-mile restricted Wilton in 2023 at the Spa.
The field is completed by a multi-stake award-winning New Yorker Stonewall star [post 6, Jaime Rodriguez] for trainer Horacio De Paz; as well as on betting Zadorsky [post 4, Jose Gomez] for trainer Whit Beckman and Drink [post 1, Jose Lezcano] for conditioner Linda Rice.
The Go for Wand is scheduled as Race 7 on Saturday’s nine-race card. First message is 12:10 Eastern.
America’s Day at the Races presents live coverage and analysis of Aqueduct Racetrack’s fall competition on the FOX Sports networks. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.
NYRA Bets is the official betting platform of Aqueduct Racetrack and the best way to bet on every race this fall. The NYRA Bets app is available to horse players nationwide and can be downloaded today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.
#Weigh #risks #strongly #stated #Wand