First Look: Money Moves, Shared Sense to tangle at Aqueduct

A few familiar names from the 2020 Kentucky Derby trail are poised for a matchup at Aqueduct.

Money Moves, who finished 13th in the Derby, and Shared Sense, a two-time Grade 3 winner whose connections opted against running for the roses, are both probable for the $100,000 Discovery (G3) on Saturday. Attachment Rate, 14th in the Kentucky Derby, is possible for the 1 1/8-mile event.

The Discovery is one of 10 stakes races on tap next weekend at Aqueduct. Check out HRN’s stakes tracker to see potential fields for all 10 of those events — four graded, six non-graded.

Here is a closer look at the four graded stakes Aqueduct will host Friday-Sunday:

Friday, Nov. 27

$100,000 Comely Stakes (G3)

3-year-old fillies, 1 1/8 miles, dirt

Miss Marissa, winner of Pimlico’s Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) on Oct. 3, looks for a fourth straight victory in the Comely.

James Ryerson trains the He’s Had Enough filly. After allowance wins this summer at Monmouth Park and Saratoga, Miss Marissa out-dueled even-money favorite Bonny South to earn a first graded stakes triumph in the Black-Eyed Susan.

Mrs. Danvers, fifth in August’s Test Stakes (G1) at Saratoga, steps back into graded company for trainer Shug McGaughey off an Oct. 25 allowance triumph at Belmont Park. Todd Pletcher trainee Thankful also enters off of a Belmont allowance victory, which came Sept. 27.

2020 Comely (G3)

Saturday, Nov. 28

$100,000 Discovery (G3)

3-year-olds, 1 1/8 miles, dirt

Pletcher raised eyebrows when entering Money Moves for his stakes debut in the Kentucky Derby off of only three lifetime starts. The Candy Ride colt bumped rival Major Fed into the first turn, settled into a spot mid-pack, then faded to finish 13th — third from last.

Money Moves bounced back from his Derby defeat well, winning a one-mile allowance optional claiming race Oct. 23 at Belmont. He will go another furlong of distance in the Discovery seeking a first stakes win.

Shared Sense emerged as a Derby candidate for trainer Brad Cox when winning July’s Indiana Derby (G3). Connections re-examined their plans following a fifth-place finish one month later in the Ellis Park Derby, and he rebounded with an Oklahoma Derby (G3) triumph Sept. 27 at Remington Park.

Among other probable runners, Monday Morning Qb also returns off of a stakes victory. Trained by Butch Reid Jr., he took the Maryland Million Classic Stakes on Oct. 24 at Laurel Park.

Like Money Moves, Attachment Rate responded well from a flat Kentucky Derby effort by winning an allowance race. The Dale Romans trainee dominated a Churchill Downs field by 6 1/4 lengths Oct. 29 and is possible to jump back into stakes company for the Discovery.

2020 Discovery Handicap (G3)

$100,000 Long Island (G3)

3-and-up fillies and mares, 1 3/16 miles, turf

Graded stakes winner Theodora B., fifth last out Oct. 18 at Woodbine in the E.P. Taylor Stakes (G1), gets a bit of class relief in the Long Island.

Michael Dickinson trains the 5-year-old Ghostzapper mare, who has won six of 19 lifetime starts. Theodora B. made the grade in August at Woodbine in the Dance Smartly Stakes (G2), then took Kentucky Downs’ TVG Stakes a month later before finishing fifth in the E.P. Taylor.

Trainer Christophe Clement has Mutamakina and Wegetsdamunnys, both of whom are stakes placed, probable for this spot. Eliade won a Keeneland allowance race Oct. 8 for trainer Chad Brown.

2020 Long Island Handicap (G3)

Sunday, Nov. 29

$100,000 Fall Highweight (G3)

3-and-up, six furlongs, dirt

Stan the Man, who was third behind Complexity and Code of Honor on Oct. 3 in Belmont’s Kelso Handicap (G2), is probable to face less-imposing rivals in the Fall Highweight.

John Terranova trains the 6-year-old Broken Vow gelding, who won Saratoga’s Tale of the Cat Stakes in August. Stan the Man is still seeking a graded stakes breakthrough.

Tribecca comes off an Oct. 24 victory in the Hudson Handicap at Belmont and is probable to make his 40th career start here. Drafted, who has run primarily in the Middle East, returns to U.S. soil for his first start since a sixth-place effort Feb. 29 in the Saudia Cup Sprint at King Abdulaziz Racecourse.

2020 Fall Highweight Handicap (G3)