Barn Tour: Rice updates on Ky. Derby hopeful, 9 others

Could this be the year Linda Rice has a Kentucky Derby 2024 contender?

She’s certainly on a roll, with five consecutive New York Racing Association training titles and a record-breaking 165 NYRA wins last year. Her earnings in 2023 were $10.4 million, the first time that figure was more than $7.5 million. She’s in first place in the standings for Aqueduct’s current meet with 18 wins from 107 starts.

That level of success was a long time coming for Rice, who began training in 1987.

“It’s a long process,” she told Horse Racing Nation on Monday. “Many years of building a stable and developing clients and relationships with clients. There’s a lot that goes into that.

“One of my goals is to always kind of knock off the bottom end of my stable and try to increase the top end,” said Rice, who has about 60 horses in training at Belmont Park. “So we’re always culling and trying to reach out and find better horses to improve the quality of the stable. That’s a year-round process.”

Her Derby hopeful is El Grande O, a son of Take Charge Indy who has a record of 10: 3-5-1. He lost by a nose in the Grade 3 Withers last out and was second in the Jerome before that, giving him 15 Kentucky Derby qualifying points. On Saturday, he’ll start in the Gotham (G3), cutting back to a mile as he pursues a share of the 50-25-15-10-5 points on offer.

“He’s proven he can run a mile, and he certainly has experience and fitness on his side,” Rice said. “I thought (the Withers) was a great performance. He got beat about three inches, and we were very happy with how he handled the mile and an eighth. The decision to shorten him back up to the flat mile, I spoke to (owner) Barry Schwartz about it, and he was more inclined to want to run. And I said, ‘You know what? I’m fine with that.’ ”

El Grande O’s temperament is suited to a Derby trail run.

“He is just so easy to be around,” Rice said. “He’s an easy horse to train, he’s easy on himself. Mentally, he’s very kind. He’s a little playful here and there, but he’s easy to handle for the exercise riders, for his groom in the stall.

“And it certainly helps him with his racing. When he goes to the paddock, he doesn’t turn a hair. He walks around there like he’s a 5-year-old gelding. He handles his competition. He doesn’t fret over it, it doesn’t make him nervous. So that’s a great attribute to have in a young horse, in any horse.”

Rice provided updates on others in her stable for the latest in HRN’s Barn Tour series.

Hot Fudge. The 5-year-old daughter of Liam’s Map won her last three starts last year and continued the streak with a Jan. 27 win in the listed Interborough Stakes. “We raced her lightly as a 2-year-old,” Rice said. “She had some injuries along the way, just odd things, a vertebrae in her neck, a pelvic hairline fracture, just odd things that delayed her return to the races. But finally when we got her back she ran very well. We gave her last summer off, and she’s come back better. … We were actually headed to Laurel for the Barbara Fritchie (G3) and the quarantine got in our way. So we’ll stay in New York, and we do have the Correction and the Distaff ahead of her.”

Ain’t Broke. The 5-year-old daughter of Dialed In has finished in the money in her last sixth start. She won an optional-claiming allowance “nicely” on Sunday and was third in the Interborough before that. “I felt like (the Interborough) was a bit of a sub-par effort for her. There were a few things going on. I thought she was a little too close to the pace, and of course it was without Lasix. But I was very happy with her race (Sunday), and she rebounded to another big effort. Our long-term goal with her is going to be to point her toward the Grade 3 Distaff on April 6. She has a full brother, Mr. Wireless, who won some stakes. So she’s got some pedigree punch to her as well.”

Joey Freshwater. The 4-year-old son of Jimmy Creed had a record of 10: 2-2-2 last year and came back from a four-month break to win an optional-claiming allowance in January and finish fourth in another optional-claimer Feb. 9. “Joey came back after a layoff with a nice effort, and then the other day he didn’t fire for us. And I think he’s going to need more time between races. He did win a Grade 3 at Aqueduct, and he came back at seven eighths. I also think for distance, seven furlongs or a mile might be better for him as well. So we’re going to give him some time between races for now.”

Hero’s Medal. Rice claimed the now 4-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro in November and he ran second in a maiden special weight before getting his first win on Feb. 9. “He has a lot of action, just the way he travels, and I think that he likes one turn better than two turns. He’s got a lot of action in the way he moves, so I think that suits him better. And I’m hopeful that that horse is really going to turn into something.”

Augustine Red. The 3-year-old son of Irish War Cry has a record of 4: 1-1-2 since Rice claimed him in November. “He ran (Sunday) in an allowance race, he was third. It was a close third, but he ran very well on short rest. He’s a horse that I claimed in Kentucky last year, and he’s a very attractive horse. Easy to like, easy to train. But in his races he lugs in significantly, and so we’ve been shuffling around with equipment and whatnot, trying to see if we can get him to go a little straighter.”

Getting a break

Film Star. The 5-year-old son of Flatter moved into stakes company last fall, going 0-for-3 in those starts with a second in the Woodward (G2). “We ran him in Kentucky in the Clark (G2, in which he finished sixth), and we might have overstepped him a little bit at that time. I think by the end of the season, he was a little bit of a tired horse, and we set the bar a little too hard for him. But I have given him the winter off, I plan to give him four months, and I think that he’ll come back well with a big vacation.

Pioneering Spirit. The 5-year-old gelded son of American Pharoah won six of 12 starts last year, including two stakes. “He has just returned to training. I gave him three months off at Ocala, just wanted to let him down and have a nice break. He was awfully good to us last year, so we’re hoping for a big season for him this year too.”

Ichiban. Unraced at 2, the 4-year-old Street Sense filly was 3-for-11 last year and hasn’t had a start this year. “We turned her out for the winter as well. She did win three for us at Saratoga, she won a stake. So we raced her pretty aggressively last summer, and by the end of the season, her performance had tailed off a little. And she’s just a young 3-year-old turning 4. I think she’s got a really nice future ahead of her, so we gave her some time.”

Amanda’s Folly. The 4-year-old Mendelssohn filly has gone 8: 3-2-1 since being claimed in April. Amanda won the Ticonderoga off the turf, won a stake for us. That was thrilling, considering that we claimed her in a $16,000, never-won-two earlier in the year. So that was pretty exciting, and she’s been a great claim. She won that stake and then she looked to me like a 3-year-old filly who’d been in training for a long time, and I gave her the winter off as well.”