By DRF.com
OZONE PARK, N.Y. (Feb. 3, 2021) — California-bred Capo Kane will look to validate his upset victory in last month’s Jerome Stakes and prove himself worthy of being considered a Kentucky Derby candidate when he meets eight rivals in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.
The Withers, as did the Jerome, offers its winner 10 qualifying points to the May 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
The Jerome, run on New Year’s Day, was a one-turn mile. The Withers is run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns. Capo Kane did handle two turns in his maiden win going a mile and 70 yards at Parx Racing last November.
“I don’t think that will be a problem for him,” said Harold Wyner, the trainer of Capo Kane. “This horse can go to the lead or he can come from behind too. He doesn’t mind dirt in his face.”
Wyner said he’s liked what he’s seen from Capo Kane since the Jerome.
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“Just his attitude. He started to get more mature and more aggressive in his training,” Wyner said.
Capo Kane will show only one workout in the five weeks between races. On Jan. 20, he breezed five furlongs in 1:01.96 at Parx. Last Saturday, Wyner said he had Capo Kane gallop a strong mile, referred to as a two-minute lick, during which he went the last three furlongs in 37.20 seconds.
In both his maiden win and the Jerome, Capo Kane drifted out some in the stretch. Wyner said he had considered putting blinkers on Capo Kane but didn’t want to make an equipment change off a win.
“I don’t think he needs them,” Wyner said. “In the morning we’ve been taking him with a stick and been showing him left-handed and tapped one time in his breeze. We showed it to him [Saturday] in his strong gallop and flagged him once and he didn’t move an inch, so I’m confident going into this race.”
Capo Kane drew post 3 and will be ridden by Dylan Davis.
The competition figures to be somewhat tougher in the Withers than the Jerome. Eagle Orb, runner-up in the Jerome, is back. Risk Taking, trained by Chad Brown, is coming off a maiden win at the Withers distance as is Overtook, one of two entered by trainer Todd Pletcher. Donegal Bay, a maiden winner going a mile at Gulfstream, is Pletcher’s other entrant.
Shackqueenking and Royal Number will ship up from Maryland for the Withers. They finished second and third, respectively, behind Hello Hot Rod – winner of Sunday’s Jimmy Winkfield at Aqueduct – in a first-level allowance going a mile on Dec. 13 at Laurel Park. Shackqueenking came back to win the Howard County Stakes going 1 1/16 miles, while Royal Number won a first-level allowance at that distance by 7 3/4 lengths on Jan. 9 at Laurel.
Longshots Civil War and Mr. Doda swelled the field to nine.