Gotham Stakes 2017: Odds and Picks
The $300,000 Grade 3 Gotham Stakes features the return of the top three finishers from the Grade 3 Withers Stakes. Leading the charge is El Areeb, who enters the Gotham on a four-race win streak.
For Gotham picks, check out El Areeb goes for his third Kentucky Derby trail win in the Gotham from Matt Shifman. Post positions and morning line odds are below as seen on the HRN Stakes Tracker.
The morning line favorite and clearly the horse to beat is El Areeb. The Exchange Rate colt has been dominating the New York trail to the Kentucky Derby, winning the Withers last out by 4 ¼ lengths and the Grade 3 Jerome Stakes by 11 ¼ lengths before that. El Areeb has been training back at his home base at Laurel Park, and had the bullet workout Feb. 26, going five furlongs in 1:00.80. If El Areeb continues his easy winning ways, there’s no doubt the colt will make it into the 2017 Kentucky Derby starting gate.
Perhaps the horse with the best chance to beat El Areeb is not from the East Coast, but is shipping in from California for trainer, Doug O'Neill. After breaking his maiden via disqualification, So Conflated, by Eskendereya, stepped up in the California Derby and stamped himself as a Kentucky Derby contender. He rushed from the inside to the outside before rallying to a ¾-length win over the synthetic surface at Golden Gate Fields. Though his biggest victory was not on dirt, his maiden win was on Santa Anita’s dirt track, where So Conflated was only a head from crossing the line first, behind the highly regarded Dabster, before being awarded the victory by the Stewards.
True Timber chased El Areeb all the way in the Jerome to finish third, and then tried to go wire to wire in the Withers, only to be passed by El Areeb. The son of Mineshaft had his own bullet breeze recently, ticking off four furlongs in :47.88 over the Belmont Park surface on Feb. 24. With the Gotham awarding points on a 50-20-10-5 basis to the top four finishers, True Timber still stands a chance to make the Kentucky Derby if he finishes close behind El Areeb.
After 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Not This Time was retired due to injury, the Albaugh Family Stable turned to J Boys Echo to carry their silks to the Kentucky Derby. To wrap up his two-year-old career, J Boys Echo finished fourth in the Grade 3 Delta Downs Jackpot, beaten 10 ¼ lengths by Gunnevera. Also a son of Mineshaft, J Boys Echo then rallied to finish third in the Withers.
Making their first stakes attempts in the Gotham with the potential to step up are Cloud Computing and Action Everyday. Cloud Computing enters off a maiden win at Aqueduct, his lone start, and Action Everyday shipped up from Florida after maiden and allowance optional claiming victories at Tampa Bay Downs.
By Christine Oser