Paul Braverman and Timothy Pinch's Scorching (Mo Town) takes aim at the Road to the Kentucky Derby as he targets the Mar. 1 GIII Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack. The one-turn mile for sophomores awards 50-25-15-10-5 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers.
Trained by John Charalambous, the Ontario-bred colt was last seen winning the restricted Oct. 6 Cup and Saucer Stakes over the Woodbine Racetrack turf. The CTHS sale graduate scored the victory by disqualification after Ashley's Archer (Karakontie {Jpn}) got his nose down first on the wire but was ruled to have interfered with a rival in the stretch of the 1 1/16-mile route.
The Cup and Saucer came on the heels of an impressive graduation with a pacesetting five-length score in the 6 1/2-furlong restricted Simcoe Stakes in August over the Tapeta.
“I think he ran a winning race,” Charalambous said of the Cup and Saucer. “We just got beat the last jump and I'm still not sold that he's any better on turf. I was really happy with that race and I was happy with the way he was coming into his next race, but he developed a virus and it took him longer to get through it, so we gave him the rest of the year off. The owners made the decision to try a different route, so here we are.”
Scorching arrived at Belmont Park in late December and has yet to breeze over the training track.
“Our plan is to race in the Gotham. We're just starting him back up at Belmont, and he trains on dirt in Canada and has breezed on it a bunch of times, so hopefully he can make the transition in the afternoon,” Charalambous said. “We're just trying to get him fit and ready, and hopefully everything goes well.”
Scorching debuted in July at Woodbine with a runner-up effort sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs over Tapeta ahead of his Simcoe score. Charalambous said he believes the dark bay can be effective at a one-turn mile.
“I didn't really think he was a sprinter,” Charalambous said. “I didn't know if he could go a Classic distance, but he never really trained like he was a sprinter-he always worked well, but wasn't excessively quick. The way the races came up, the timing was perfect on both his stakes wins.”
In the Gotham, Scorching will be making his first start in five months.
“The layoff certainly did him well mentally, and he put on some weight,” Charalambous said. “He's just got to get used to the track–it's deeper here than back home. It's something we have to work through, but he's in great shape and we'll take it from there.”
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