The 2022 Kentucky Derby trail returns to Aqueduct with the Jerome

By NY Hot List staff | Friday, December 31, 2021

The $150,000 Jerome Stakes is the third official qualifying race in New York for the 2022 Kentucky Derby. The one-turn mile at Aqueduct will be run on Saturday, January 1, which is the official birthday for the eight thoroughbreds in the field who become 3-year-olds.

Cooke Creek is the 5-2 morning line favorite based on his stakes victory at Delaware Park and his second in the Nashua (G3) at Belmont Park. He will ship up to New York from Maryland for trainer Jeremiah O’Dwyer.

“He’s a very game horse and very honest. He loves to train and a very forward going horse,” O’Dwyer said. “The type of horse he is, I think he’ll be a better 3-year-old – and he’ll have to be to stay going along the road we hope he can stay on, chasing those nice stakes races and maybe get a few Kentucky Derby points along the way.”

The top four finishers [10-4-2-1] will earn Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

Here are the Hot List picks for the Jerome:

The $150,000 Jerome, Aqueduct, Saturday, Race 8.

(8) Hagler is a horse that has improved in all three starts of his career and is moving into an ideal spot as he tries stakes company for the first time. He will stretch out from seven furlongs to this one-turn mile and appears to have the tactical speed to control the race right from the start. Trainer Rudy Rodriguez has always had success at the Aqueduct winter meeting. (1) Cooke Creek is the horse to beat as the only stakes winner in the field. He won his first two starts at Delaware Park including the Rocky Run. Most recently, he was second in the Nashua (G3) behind Rockefeller who shipped east for Bob Baffert. (7) Mr Jefferson is an allowance winner at Laurel that last time ran fourth in a very tough field in the Remsen (G2). His speed figures have gone up steadily in his five starts. (3) Ohtwoohthreefive made all six of his starts on the grass including a nose loss in the Central Park last time at Aqueduct. His sire Union Rags was a classic winner on the dirt and is better known as a dirt sire.

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