Feb. 6 Insights: Curlin Rising Star Returns Off Long Layoff at Big A

7th-Aqueduct, $75K, Alw/Opt. Clm ($62,500), 1m, 4:25 ET

Repole Stable's LEGIT (Curlin">Curlin) followed up a dominant debut victory going a mile at Gulfstream with an equally impressive two-turn, 'TDN Rising Star'-earning score in the Pimlico slop on Preakness weekend in 2018, but disappeared after that and resurfaces off a near 21-month layoff in this mile feature at Aqueduct. Unveiled as a 17-10 chance in Hallandale, the chestnut scampered away to triumph in hand by 7 1/4 lengths, then rallied from well off the pace to a four-length tally despite a wide trip in Maryland, a race out of which the second, third and fourth finishers returned to win. He returns here off a steady if unspectacular string of works at trainer Todd Pletcher's Palm Beach Downs base, capped by a half-mile spin in :49 3/5 (16/29) Jan. 26. Legit's chief competition appears to come from Grumps Little Tots (Sky Mesa), third in the local GIII Discovery S. two starts back, and Sea Foam (Medaglia d'Oro), who looks to recapture the form that saw him win the New York Derby and Albany S. two summers ago. —@JBiancaTDN