Field of 11 Kentucky Derby prospects entered in Withers Stakes

By NY Hot List Staff | Friday, February 4, 2022

New York’s Road to the Kentucky Derby re-opens Saturday with 11 3-year-olds jamming into the starting gate for the Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack. It’s a contentious field that includes last month’s Jerome Stakes winner Courvoisier and a promising maiden from Chad Brown in Early Voting. Getting a clean trip will be important in a large field with the specter of a wide trip around the first turn being costly in terms of ground loss.

Here are the Hot List picks for the Withers:

The $250,000 Withers (G3), Aqueduct, Saturday, Race 8.

(9) Early Voting (A) was an impressive debut winner for Chad Brown at odds of .95-1 at Aqueduct going a mile. This son of Gun Runner also has a strong female side which indicates that he should handle the stretch out to nine furlongs. Jose Ortiz returns from Florida and stays on board even though he rode Courvoisier in his last start. (5) Courvoisier is unbeaten in his last two starts at the Big A. He broke his maiden going the 1 1/8 mile distance in December and came back to win the Jerome by more than a length and picked up 10 Derby qualifying points. Ruben Silvera will get the mount for the first time for trainer Kelly Breen. (3) Smarten Up hit the board in all four career starts including his second in the Jerome. His prior three races were all at Parx Racing and included his nine-length maiden breaker. (11) Cooke Creek won his first two starts at Delaware Park in a maiden special weight and a one-mile stakes race. From there, he was second in the Nashua (G3) and then third in the Jerome.

The rest of the NY Hot List picks and the Special Saturday Pick 3 are available free of charge at this website.