The Notebook ($100.000 Purse)
AQU- For Two Year Olds Foaled in NY
Six Furlongs on the Dirt
November 14, 2020

Just because the big money races of the BC came to an end for the year last week, there are still races to talk about. At AQU, two year olds that call the Empire State home will contest the sixth running of the Notebook for its $100.000 purse. In last year’s event, D J C Racing Stables won his second Notebook thanks to Moment In Time winning by about a length. Unfortunately for the Local Hero colt, he would not win again and has now been sent to stud. The runner up in the race was Boardwalk, and he would end up faring much better as a three year old, participating in both the KYD and the PRK. He also managed to win a Grade 3 in July at the Spa. For this race, a field of eight will be going to post, and it should be an interesting race as the horses hope to take a big step here towards bigger and better things in their careers. Here is the field!

#1- Leas Chance (Mb Stables, ridden by D Davis)- This gelding has the best resume of anyone in the field, with three wins in five career starts. He is the only one here with more than $100.000 in earnings. Among these wins is a race with similar conditions, the $100.000 NY Breeders Futurity, held at FL in late September. He also did run in the Grade 2 SAR Special and finished fourth, but was within a length of the winner. All that makes him a strong contender here as well, if not the favorite.

#2- Accountant (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by J Bravo)- Started his career off well, with two wins, and the trainer hoped that the numbers would continue adding up to bigger things. He would go to Saratoga off those wins, and finished one spot behind Leas Chance in the SAR Special, but would stay there for the Grade 1 Hopeful. He’d be mid-pack there. Was last seen in a comparable race, the $100.000 Bongard, a seven furlong race for NY-ers at BEL, and was just caught at the wire, placing second. He has had a couple of excellent works since then.

#3- Bigmouth Raj (Night Rider Stables, ridden by E Cancel)- In his last race, you could have had him for $40.000, but the trainer was impressed by his win in that KEE claimer to make a pretty big jump from there into the stake level. His works leading up to that claimer are fine, but do not jump out at you as a future stake runner, so he will have to have improved a little since then to have a shot here.

#4- Werked Up (Serenity Stables, ridden by P Morales)- After breaking his maiden in his second career start, Werked Up ran in a couple of ungraded stakes, but did not run well and certainly did not impress the trainer in them, as he would be sent to a $50.000 claimer for his last race. After a second place finish, he has had two months to rest, and it appears as though Serenity is worked up over him again.

#5- Absolution (La Canada Racehorses, ridden by J Alvarado)- Broke his maiden about a month ago at PRX in what was his third career start. Afterward, he would put up a strong work at SA a week later, and now we’ll see if he can build on that. His two previous starts do not create a lot of excitement, so once must hope that he has either improved from that or simply grown to become a better runner. Must be at his best here.

#6- Galapagos (Smokey Stover, ridden by M Franco)- You could almost say that he is a race ahead of Absolution in that he broke his maiden in his third race and then attempted a jump into NY-bred stakes after that. For Galapagos, that only resulted in a fourth place finish in the $150.000 Funny Cide. It has been two months since that race, so we’ll see what kind of a difference that makes.

#7- Special Diplomat (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by J Lezcano)- This horse is a perfect two-for-two in his career, and will now get a try at this level. He has not raced against this kind of competition yet, breaking his maiden at FP, then winning an allowance at LAD. The works are in line with the others, and you do have to like that he knows how to win, but I will have to pass on this one.

#8- Neo (Arindel, ridden by N Juarez)- No one in this field has raced more than Neo, as the Commanding The Storm makes the ninth start of his career. He has won once, and did try some ungraded stakes on the grass that did not see him hit the board. He returned to the main track in his last start, and was second in an allowance. Worked nicely down at LRL last week.

Prediction: 1-2-6-8

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded