A field of seven New York breds line up in Saturday’s Say Florida Sandy at Aqueduct. (© Cheryl Quigley | Dreamstime.com).
Saturday’s feature at Aqueduct is the $100,000 Say Florida Sandy, a seven-furlong test for New York breds that drew a field of seven led by My Boy Tate.
The Michelle Nevin trainee came back off a 13-month layoff to win the Thunder Rumble Division of the New York Stallion Series on Nov. 24 at Aqueduct with Manny Franco aboard.
It was the gelding’s sixth win in a dozen career starts. Among his wins was the 2018 edition of the Say Florida Sandy. He now makes his second start off a long layoff.
“He just had some minor issues,” Nevin said of the layoff. “We started back trying to get him fit and he was struggling to get there. It took a little longer than what we thought. He had been training well up towards that last race and he’s come out of that race well and has continued to train well. We’re hoping with that race under his belt he’ll do it again.”
The race is named in honor of the New York bred who made 98 career starts, winning 33 times and earning over $2 million. Say Florida Sandy won 19 stakes races in his career, five of those graded.
The main rivals for My Boy Tate, who has won five of six over the Aqueduct main track, are Arthur’s Hope, who returns to the state bred ranks and T Loves a Fight, who was third in the Gravesand in his last outing.
My Best Plays Report for Saturday will include my strongest plays from Aqueduct and Santa Anita.
Let’s head out to Aqueduct for Saturday’s featured race of the day:
Aqueduct Race 8 The Say Florida Sandy (Post time 3:55 ET)
6 Arthur’s Hope 5-1
3 My Boy Tate 5-2
5 T Loves a Fight 7-2
1 Aveenu Malcainu 9-2
Arthur’s Hope
This six-year-old has won 11 of his 25 career starts and is back with New York breds after a fourth last out against Alw-2 optional claimers here going six furlongs. He prompted the early pace while down along a deep rail and weakened to finish 3 ½ lengths behind the winner with the bug Correa aboard. Two back he dueled for the early lead and weakened to finish fourth in a New York Stallion Series race behind a couple of foes he faces again today. That outing two back was off a four-month break. He earned a triple digit Beyer four back at Parx beating non-conditioned allowance company and could be sitting on a good one here in his third start of his current for cycle. I like the jock switch here from the bug to Carmouche.
My Boy Tate
The Michelle Nevin trainee came back off a 13-month layoff to win a New York Stallion Series race in a sharp effort. This guy won this race back in 2018 in the slop and then won the state bred Hollie Hughes in his following start, earning back to back career tops. The gelding is perfect in his three starts at seven furlongs although all three have been on off tracks. He has worked sharply since his last outing for Nevin who has started off the meeting on the cold side, going 0 for 16 with five seconds. He should move forward second off the bench, but his price may end up on the light side.
T Loves a Fight
The gelding is coming off a decent effort in the Gravesand. He tracked the early pace and finished evenly in a third-place finish, beaten 1 ½ lengths for the top spot. He made a good late rally two back to finish in the runner up spot behind My Boy Tate. Noda claimed this guy for just $10,000 last May and he has won four times for the barn including beating state bred Alw-2 foes at the Spa and open Alw-2 company at Belmont Park in October. He will appreciate the return to the state bred ranks here.
