Rice believes the future's bright for 'more professional' Nicodemus

Trainer Linda Rice, who is fresh off her 2,000th career victory, was apprehensive about entering graded stakes winner Nicodemus in the Toboggan (G3), but the way the son of Candy Ride was training gave the conditioner enough confidence to take a shot.

Her confidence was rewarded with a strong late-closing runner-up effort to dual Grade 1 winner Mind Control.

"I wasn't certain at the time but I was pretty happy with his last breeze coming into the race. He was sharp and feeling good so we went down that alley," Rice said.

Named after a biblical character in the Book of John, Nicodemus could race in the $200,000 Tom Fool (G3) on March 7 at Aqueduct going six furlongs.

"We may point to the Tom Fool. It's a little short for him but not out of the question," Rice said.

Rice said Nicodemus, a Kentucky bred owned by Everything's Cricket Racing in partnership with Lawrence Goichman, has shown more professionalism since last year. The winner of last year's Westchester (G3) moved to Rice's barn in the summer of 2018 after breaking his maiden for former trainer Rodolphe Brisset.

"He's become much more professional. He was a lightly raced horse when we got him so we got some seasoning and experience," Rice said.

Nicodemus is out of the four-time graded stakes-winning millionaire Leah's Secret.