Aqueduct: Master Piece seeks back-to-back wins in Red Smith
Multiple graded stakes-winner Master Piece looks for a title defense in Saturday’s Grade 2 Red Smith, an 11-furlong inner turf test for 3-year-olds and up at Aqueduct.
Trained by Rick Dutrow Jr., the 8-year-old Mastercraftsman ridgling took last year’s edition by a neck over multiple Grade 1-placed Soldier Rising. This May, Master Piece earned his first win since the Red Smith, capturing the local nine-furlong Fort Marcy (G2) by a neck over next-out graded stakes-winner Ottoman Fleet.
Master Piece prepared to go back-to-back in the Red Smith with a half-mile breeze in 48.63 seconds on Nov. 1 over the Belmont Park dirt training track.
“He went good. He went by himself. He breezed good and we are happy with him. He kind of showed us that he is ready. This is his kind of weather, cooler,” Dutrow said. “We are going to go over there and try to defend it.”
Dutrow said Master Piece, who also won the Eddie Read (G2) in July 2022 at Del Mar, has done some of his best running over the local green.
“He’s run big twice on this grass course. We can’t wait to watch him run again,” he said. “He’s a pleasure to be around. Every barn that he’s in, just all the people really like him because he’s such a cool, funny horse to be around.”
The gray enters from a close third in the John Henry Turf Championship (G2) on Sept. 28 at Santa Anita Park.
Master Piece is a near millionaire with $943,577 in earnings through a 32: 8-4-5 record.
Dutrow also will saddle Michael Dubb’s Grade 1-placed Pioneering Spirit, who was haltered for $62,500 out of a close second last-out going 1 3/16 miles on Oct. 19 at Aqueduct. The 5-year-old American Pharoah gelding was in the barn of Linda Rice since March 2023, highlighted by a third in the 12-furlong Sword Dancer (G1) last August at the Spa.
Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey will saddle the pair of dual Grade 1-placed Integration and multiple graded stakes-placed Limited Liability. Integration has made one start at the Big A, a five-length victory last November in the nine-furlong Hill Prince (G2) over eventual Grade 1-placed I’m Very Busy.
The 4-year-old Quality Road bay enters from a fourth in the 1 1/2-mile Turf Cup (G2) on Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs. That performance followed a closing second in the 10-furlong Arlington Million (G1) on Aug. 11 at Colonial Downs after a 6 1/2-length score in the nine-furlong Million Preview in July there.
Integration received a 100 Beyer Speed Figure from Daily Racing Form for both the Million Preview and Arlington Million, which would make him a top contender in this field if returns to that form or improves. Also among Integration’s accolades are a Colonial Downs’ nine-furlong outer turf record of 1:46.41 for a win in the Virginia Derby. (G3) last September.
Kentucky homebred Limited Liability was a dominant 8 1/4-length gate-to-wire winner of the 2 1/16-mile Nashville Gold Cup on Sept. 11 at Kentucky Downs. The 5-year-old Kitten’s Joy gelding earned his first stakes win, receiving a career-best 102 Beyer for the victory.
The performance avenged a second in the 12-furlong Cape Henlopen in August at Delaware Park. He also placed at the graded level this year in the Belmont Gold Cup (G2), the 2023 Sycamore (G3) and Louisville (G3), the 2022 Virginia Derby (G3) and Pennine Ridge (G2) and the 2021 Pilgrim and (G2) With Anticipation (G3).