2025 Withers Stakes Entries at Aqueduct

Withers (G3) Offers 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby Points To Top-Five Finishers

Mo Quality (Walmac Farm) looks for his first stakes win and the possibility of adding more Kentucky Derby qualifying points in the $250,000 Withers Stakes, a nine-furlong test for sophomores, at Aqueduct Racetrack on Saturday, February 1.

The Grade 3 Withers Stakes, a prep race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, will award the top-five finishers 20-10-6-4-2 qualifying points, respectively, towards the prestigious 151st Grade 1 test on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

The Withers Stakes is slated as Race 7 on Saturday's nine-race program, which includes the Listed $175,000 Toboggan [Race 6] and the $125,000 Ruthless [Race 3]. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

Trained by Christopher Davis, Mo Quality picked up five points towards the Run for the Roses when second last out in the 1 1/16-mile Listed Smarty Jones on January 4 at Oaklawn Park. There, the Mo Town bay attended the pace for the opening quarter-mile, before settling into a stalking third position 1 1/2 lengths back and closing for second as the pacesetting multiple stakes-winner Coal Battle got the jump to a four-length victory.

"I thought we let the horse get away on the easy lead and I think we should have pressed the pace and gone a little bit faster, to make the race a little more honest," said Davis. "I don't want to take anything away from the winner, who is proven and kicked away a little bit, but I think we kind of took our horse out of what he wants to do.

"He has a lot more natural speed than what he was allowed to show the other day. He wasn't tired after the race," Davis continued.

Mo Quality [post 5, Kendrick Carmouche] graduated by one length in prominent fashion second-out in a 6 1/2-furlong November maiden at Churchill Downs. He earned a career-best 83 Beyer Speed Figure, showing improvement from a debut runner-up effort to stakes-placed Touchy when rallying from last at the same distance one month prior at Keeneland.

"He is a horse that has come to fruition pretty early. I ran him sooner than I thought I would because he started waking up really fast," Davis said. "He is a big, strong horse. We are trying to teach him to go two turns. Going from six and a half, to a mile and a sixteenth, it was a big difference, but I don't think it was the distance - it was overall the way the race set up for us."

Bred in Kentucky by Titletown Racing Stables, Mo Quality, out of the Quality Road mare Revealing Quality, was a $50,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. His third dam, Revealed, produced dual Grade 1-winning millionaire Belle Gallantey.

St. Elias Stable's Captain Cook [post 6, Manny Franco] was impressive when graduating second-out by 9 1/4 lengths in a local seven-furlong maiden on December 28 in his first start for trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr.

The Practical Joke bay stalked one length off the pace in second position before drawing clear in the turn and extending to a big lead over the sloppy and sealed going. The performance, engineered by returning rider Manny Franco, earned a career-best 83 Beyer.

"He ran big. We were very, very happy with his race," said Dutrow, Jr. "That is why we are pointing him to a big race now, because he was very impressive with what we saw from him. Manny was happy with the horse, excited, and liked the feel the horse gave him. He's an exciting horse who ran a big race and I can't wait to watch him run again."

Captain Cook was sixth in his six-furlong debut for conditioner Norm Casse in October at Churchill Downs. He will travel two turns for the first time.

"We are willing to try it. He won going seven-eighths and ran big, so we are looking forward to it," Dutrow, Jr. said. "He is leading us to believe that he will be able to do it."

Bred by Marylou Whitney Stables, Captain Cook, a $410,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age sale, is out of the Grade 2-placed Indian Charlie mare Pow Wow Wow. His third dam is 2003 Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks winner and Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Bird Town, a half-sister of 2004 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and Travers-victor Birdstone - both out of 2004 Broodmare of the Year Dear Birdie.

Cash is King and LC Racing's stakes-winner Global Steve [post 1, Mychel Sanchez] looks to defend trainer Butch Reid, Jr.'s title in the Withers after winning last year with Uncle Heavy - he also won with Afleet Again in 2010.

The Bucchero chestnut is 2-for-2, entering from a rallying 1 1/2-length score in the seven-furlong Parx Future Stars on December 30 at its namesake oval. He won over that same course and distance in his November debut, coming from off the pace under returning jockey Mychel Sanchez in both.

"His first two starts were very good. If you watch the races, it does look like he's playing around a bit out there," said Reid, Jr. "He runs with his head up in the air and we've been working on him to get him to drop that chin down a little bit. He's not going to be able to fool around like that against his group, so he's going to have to step it up."

Global Steve, who will test his stamina beyond seven furlongs for the first time, has worked back twice over the Parx dirt, including a bullet five-eighths in 59.82 seconds on January 18 and a half-mile in 50.43 Saturday.

"He went an unbelievable five-eighths last week and galloped out good and strong. We couldn't get him pulled up until around the backside," Reid, Jr. said. "He trains good and long, and I don't see any reason why he can't [stretch out]. This has been a favorite race of ours and hopefully he can keep up the good luck in it."

Reid, Jr. said Global Steve will again race with a shadow roll which he wore last time out.

"We added a shadow roll in his last start, and it didn't seem to help. We were back and forth about taking it off, but his last two breezes have just been great with the shadow roll on, so we're going to leave it on," Reid, Jr. said. "It's more of a matter of him getting experience and the rider getting experience with it. That's one of the reasons we're keeping Mikey Sanchez on him - Mikey knows the horse and how to handle him."

Global Steve, out of the Hard Spun mare A Rosefor Isabelle, is a half-brother to multiple graded stakes-placed Cagliostro, who landed a close second to Highland Falls in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Blame in June at Churchill Downs.

Dual Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox will send out maiden-winner Uncle Jim [post 4, Jose Lezcano]. Perhaps it is a good omen that last year's Withers went to an "Uncle" in the aforementioned Uncle Heavy.

Uncle Jim, a City of Light dark bay owned by Robert V. LaPenta and Madaket Stables, won his seven-furlong debut in October at Keeneland and was next third in a one-turn mile optional-claimer in December here. He traveled in second position behind next-out Jerome-winner Cyclone State and weakened to land 3 1/2 lengths back in third.

Out of the Tiznow mare Now Now, Uncle Jim was a $240,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. His second dam, Listen Now, is a half-sister to dual Grade 1-winner Listening, as well as dual Grade 1-placed Solar Echo and Grade 1-placed Beautiful Noise.

Rounding out the field is last-out closing Jerome runner-up Omaha Omaha [post 7, Raul Mena] for conditioner Michael Gorham, along with maiden-winners Surfside Moon [post 2, Sahin Civaci] for trainer James Lawrence, II, and Corvus [post 3, Romero Maragh] for conditioner Jose Jimenez.

OffTrackBetting.com - US Legal online horse betting is a great way to bet on the Withers Stakes and at over 500 racetracks around the world. Available to customers across the United States, OTB features both Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing from major racing venues in the US as well as top international racing from Europe, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong.

Poster to return to New York for Listed Withers

Jan 15 - Godolphin's Kentucky homebred Poster, last out winner of the Grade 2 Remsen, will look to double up on stakes wins in New York when he returns for the nine-furlong Listed, $250,000 Withers on February 1 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Eoin Harty, the Munnings chestnut notched a career-best 83 Beyer Speed Figure for his narrow nose victory on December 7 over Aviator Gui in the Grade 2 Remsen, a nine-furlong route for 2-year-olds, to close out his juvenile campaign. The Remsen effort secured 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

Poster returned to his Turfway Park base following the Remsen, working three times over the synthetic before severe winter weather forced the Kentucky track to cancel recent cards. Live racing is slated to resume this evening at Turfway.

"He's doing very well. He's missed a bit of training because of the weather here in Kentucky," Harty said. "I'm thinking about what I'll do here with him in the next couple of days, but he's doing very well and if everything goes according to plan, he'll be in New York on February 1."

Poster made his dirt debut in the Remsen following a pair of prominent one-mile wins on turf, graduating in August at Ellis Park and following with an allowance score in October at Keeneland that garnered a 69 Beyer.

Flavien Prat was aboard for the Remsen effort as Poster rated off the pace before rallying strongly through the turn and opening up a two-length advantage at the stretch call. He stayed on strong to the wire to turn back the lugging-in Aviator Gui by a nose in a final time of 1:50.37.

Harty said he was impressed with how Poster handled the dirt and the stretch out in distance.

"He handled the kickback, and he was traveling very well on the surface. He showed that he's not one dimensional," Harty said.

Harty said he's hopeful Poster will continue to improve in the Withers, which offers 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers.

"The distance is fine for him, absolutely," Harty said. "Everything's on track, it's just a matter of no interruptions in his training."

The Withers is followed on the Big A's Road to the Kentucky Derby by the one-mile Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham [50-25-15-10-5] on March 1 and the nine-furlong Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino [100-50-25-15-10] on April 5.

Poster is out of the winning Tapit mare Pin Up, who is a half-sister to multiple Grade 1-victor Bernardini, who took the 2006 Grade 1 Travers, Preakness and Jockey Club Gold Cup en route to Champion 3-Year-Old Colt honors. Harty trained Poster's half-brother Stately Order, along with half-sisters Fancy Dress and Betty Grable - all Godolphin homebreds out of Pin Up.

Sand Devil could try G3 Withers next

Jan 5 - Chester Broman's New York-homebred Sand Devil remained undefeated with an impressive 12 1/2-length romp over state-bred optional-claiming company traveling a one-turn mile on January 2 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Linda Rice, the Violence sophomore colt stalked and pounced to a four-length score on debut sprinting six furlongs versus fellow state-breds on December 8 at the Big A. The talented chestnut earned an 82 Beyer Speed Figure for his debut effort.

Although nominated to the open-company Jerome, won by Cyclone State here Saturday, Rice opted to keep Sand Devil against New York-breds and was a much-the-best winner under regular pilot Jose Lezcano, taking command into the turn and scoring handily in a final time of 1:36.91. The powerful performance, which included a strong gallop out, earned a 90 Beyer.

"It was a good race. I wanted to stretch him out," Rice said. "I thought I'd take the easier race to get him stretched out and I'm very pleased with the way it worked out rather than going to the Jerome and stretching out against very tough company. I decided to take an easier path and it was good for the horse and good for the connections."

Rice indicated Sand Devil will be considered for the nine-furlong Grade 3, $250,000 Withers, a 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby qualifier on February 1; as well as the state-bred seven-furlong $125,000 Damon Runyon on February 8.

"We'll point to one of those two," Rice said. "I'll take a look at the Withers and see how it's coming up. Frankly, it would be good to know if he can run a mile and an eighth, so we're definitely keeping that on the table."

Sand Devil, out of the multiple stakes-winning Mineshaft mare Mineralogist, comes from a terrific Broman-bred family that includes graded stakes-winning second dam Seeking the Ante - a half-sister to Grade 1-winner Friends Lake. The Bromans purchased his third dam, Antespend, a multiple Grade 1-winner for the late Jack Kent Cooke, for $900,000 in 1997 at Keeneland.

"I'm thrilled to have what appears to be a very good horse for Mr. Broman. I've trained for them for quite a while and it's very exciting for him," Rice said.

Withers Stakes History

The Withers Stakes has a storied history dating back to 1874 when it was run at Jerome Park. The race has been run at a number of different New York tracks including Belmont Park from 1984-1996 and three years in the 1950's. The Withers is currently held on Aqueduct's inner track in Queens, NY and it is a Grade III event for 3-year-olds with a purse of $250,000. The race is in early February and is a `Road to the Kentucky Derby' prep race with the top four finishers earning Derby qualifying points (10-4-2-1). The Withers also serves as a prep race for the Wood Memorial in April at Aqueduct.

The Withers was historically run at a distance of 1 mile, and the race record was 1:32.40 by Williamstown (1993). The Withers distance was lengthened to 1 1/16 miles in 2012, and Far From Over (2015) holds that distance record in the Withers at 1:43.93.

Notable horses have won the Withers throughout history, including Triple Crown winners Sir Barton (1919) and Count Fleet (1943). Sir Barton became the first winner of what would be known as the American Triple Crown. Man O' War (1920) won 20-of-21 races including the Preakness and Belmont Stakes but skipped the Kentucky Derby. Native Dancer (1953) won 21-of-22 lifetime races with his lone loss in the Kentucky Derby. Additionally, 2006 winner Bernardini went on to win the Preakness Stakes that year.

The Withers was not run in 1911 or 1912 when the New York State legislated a ban on all forms of wagering on horses. Since Aqueduct's opening in the mid 1970's, the only horse hardy enough to race in the colder weather over the inner track and then go on to win the Kentucky Derby was 2004 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones.