Dads Caps Scores Back-to-Back Carter Wins
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Photo:
Chelsea Durand, NYRA
Dads Caps fought his way to the lead in mid-stretch and went on to a 1 ½-length victory in the Grade 1, $400,000 Carter Handicap on Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack, becoming just the sixth horse in the Carter's 115-year history to score back-to-back wins in the race.
It was the first win in eight starts since last year's Carter for Dad's Caps, who joined Lite the Fuse (1995-96), Forego (1974-75), Flying Heels (1930-31), Osmand (1928-29) and Audacious (1920-21) as repeat winners.
The victory also marked the second stakes win of the afternoon for trainer Rudy Rodriguez, who earlier on the card took the Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle with Condo Commando.
"Very nice day," said Rodriguez. "To win this race back-to-back is amazing. This is a good horse to be around, and we've had him since he was a baby, so it's special. A day like this means a lot to all of us; you work hard, and it pays off. Hopefully, it can just keep coming."
Dads Caps, a 5-year-old son of Discreet Cat, entered the race off two consecutive second-place finishes and one third behind Salutos Amigos over the Big A's inner track. With Saturday's win, he extended his record to 3-for-3 on the main track.
Under jockey Jose Ortiz, Dads Caps tracked long shot Green Gratto through early fractions of 22.73 and 46.41 seconds before being asked for run. After bumping slightly with Palace as they straightened for home, Dads Caps hit his best stride and grabbed the lead inside the eighth pole, edging clear to hit the wire in 1:23.64 for the seven furlongs.
"I followed the instructions that Rudy gave me - he wanted to come from off the pace today, and it worked out great," said winning jockey Jose Ortiz. "The horse was great. I had to wait a little on the turn but I had a lot of horse, so I just wanted to wait and follow the instructions."
Sent off at 5-1, Dads Caps returned $13.40 for a $2 win wager, and earned $240,000 to boost his bankroll to $978,650 for owner Vincent Scuderi. Overall, he is 5-7-2 from 18 career starts.
Green Gratto, the second longest shot on the board at 53-1, held on for second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Dream Saturday. The Big Beast, the 9-5 favorite, checked in fourth after encountering traffic early on.
"We just have to wait for another day and give it another try," said Tony Dutrow, trainer of the beaten favorite. "I think things went pretty well for the horse. We got trapped, but he [jockey Javier Castellano] got him out and we got him running there."
Palace, Wild Dude, Clearly Now and Street Shark completed the order of finish.
Source: NYRA Communications
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