Susie Raisher Photo

Fort Washington goes for second graded score in G3 Knickerbocker

by Mary Eddy

Magic Cap Stables’ Fort Washington seeks his second graded stakes victory this year in Sunday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Knickerbocker, a nine-furlong outer turf route for 3-year-olds and up, at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, the 5-year-old son of War Front was an upset winner at odds of 35-1 in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Monmouth in June at Monmouth Park, dead heating for the win with Running Bee after rallying from 4 1/4 lengths off a moderate tempo and drawing nearer at every point of call under Kendrick Carmouche. He reached the wire in tandem with Running Bee, landing a neck in front of third-place dual graded stakes-winner Tawny Port, who was a neck better than Knickerbocker hopeful Siege of Boston as part of a thrilling four-way photo. Fort Washington earned a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

“He ran very good there, and I think he’ll run good here,” said McGaughey. “He’s a little difficult and he’ll want to look around, but Kendrick knows him and we’ll see what happens. We’d like to get an [honest] pace and lay behind it, but we probably won’t get one going a mile and an eighth over there, so I don’t think he’ll be too far back.”

While the dark bay overcame a slower tempo to win the Monmouth, he was not as fortunate two starts later at Saratoga Race Course when finishing a hard-trying third last out in the Listed Bernard Baruch traveling 1 1/16 miles on September 1. There, he saved ground in last-of-7 under Carmouche and was full of run in the stretch, but had to angle outside of two foes inside the eighth pole after his path on the rail was closed off by a rival. He re-rallied well despite the trouble to get up for third, 2 1/4 lengths behind familiar rival Running Bee.

“I thought he ran good,” McGaughey said. “He missed the hole on the rail and had to come out and around, and I think he would have made them run to the wire if he had gotten a straight trip.”

Fort Washington boasts an additional stakes victory at Monmouth in the Tale of the Cat as a sophomore, as well as another graded placing when third in last year’s Grade 3 Canadian Turf at Gulfstream Park to go with four other stakes placings.

“He won a stake as a three-year-old at Monmouth and we’ve been unlucky with him a time or two on soft turf,” McGaughey said. “He trains like a decent horse.”

Fort Washington turned in his final work in prep for the Knickerbocker with a half-mile breeze in 49.25 seconds Monday over Belmont Park’s dirt training track.

“It was kind of to sharpen him up a little bit and let him finish,” said McGaughey, who won this event twice with Boisterous [2011-12]. “He did what we wanted and I thought he breezed really well.”

Carmouche retains the mount from post 3.

Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown also looks for a third Knickerbocker victory as he saddles two contenders in graded stakes-winner Andthewinneris [post 2, Dylan Davis] and the lightly-raced Redistricting [post 1, Manny Franco].

Susan Moulton’s Kentucky homebred Andthewinneris makes his fourth start since transferring to Brown after making his first 10 starts for conditioner Wayne Catalano, including a win in the 2022 Grade 2 Bourbon at Keeneland and the Texas Turf Mile last year at Sam Houston.

The 4-year-old gelded son of Oscar Performance seeks his first win for Brown on the heels of a close second in a local 1 1/16-mile optional claimer on September 20, defeated a nose by dual graded stakes-placed Battle of Normandy in an effort that was awarded a career-best 91 Beyer.

His other two starts for Brown came in an off-the-board finish in an optional claimer going this distance in July at the Spa and a distant third when stretched out to 1 5/8 miles for the restricted John’s Call on August 21 there.

Klaravich Stables’ Redistricting returns off a 10-month respite that followed a troubled start in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby in December at Del Mar where he tracked in mid-pack for three-quarters of a mile before being pulled up by Hall of Fame rider Joel Rosario.

The 4-year-old Kingman gelding returned to the work tab in July and looks to build upon the form of his sophomore campaign that saw him defeat elders both on debut in June at Belmont and in a 1 1/16-mile local allowance last October. Those efforts surrounded an off-the-board finish in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational last July at Belmont.

Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel and Fergus Galvin’s stakes-winner Reckoning Force [post 4, Eric Cancel] vies to rebound from a last-out fourth in the one-mile Grade 3 Mint Millions on September 7 at Kentucky Downs.

Trained by Brendan Walsh, the 4-year-old Air Force Blue gelding showed a strong turn of foot under Luan Machado to pounce from last-of-9 and make an eight-wide bid in the stretch. He kept on well but could not reel in the victorious Goliad and was defeated 2 1/4 lengths while missing show by a half-length to Talk of the Nation.

Reckoning Force was a half-length winner two starts back in a 1 3/16-mile optional claiming tilt on August 17 at the Spa where he employed pace-pressing tactics under Tyler Gaffalione. He earned his lone stakes victory in the Listed Juvenile Mile in September 2022 at Kentucky Downs when in the care of conditioner Joseph O’Brien.

Completing the field are Allen Stable’s multiple graded stakes-placed Siege of Boston [post 6, Joel Rosario] for conditioner Jimmy Toner, and Thor-Bred Stables’ Grade 3-placed Florida homebred Irish Prophet [post 5, Jose Lezcano] for Hall of Fame trainer Neil Drysdale.

Film Star is entered for the main track only.

The Knickerbocker is slated as Race 3 on Sunday’s nine-race card. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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