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Condo Commando makes sophomore debut in Busher
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Condo Commando ran 1 1/8 miles faster in the
Demoiselle (1:50.40) than the Remsen winner (1:51.06) one race later
(Adam Coglianese Photography) |
Condo Commando (Tiz Wonderful), an emphatic winner of the Spinaway (G1) and
Demoiselle (G2) last season, is the obvious class in Saturday's $100,000
Busher at
Aqueduct.
The 1 1/16-mile test on the inner dirt has attracted a field of six
three-year-old fillies hoping to follow in the hoofsteps of Princess of Sylmar,
who captured the 2013 Busher en route to a victory in the Kentucky Oaks (G1). To
that end, the Busher heroine will receive 50 points toward Oaks eligibility as
part of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks series.
Trained by Rudy Rodriguez, Condo Commando parlayed a 12-length debut score
against $75,000 maiden claimers at Saratoga into a Grade 1 triumph in the Spa's
premier race for juvenile fillies, the Spinaway. That win was no less eye-catchingly
brilliant, as she ran off by 13 1/4 lengths in the slop.
The dark bay suffered her only loss, as an odds-on choice, in the Frizette
(G1) next out. After that fourth-place effort, she bypassed the Breeders' Cup
and instead dominated the nine-furlong Demoiselle by 11 1/2 lengths, going
wire-to-wire over a track favorable to early speed.
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Condo Commando will break from post 6 under Junior Alvarado and, on paper,
will be hard to outrun for the lead.
Paulassilverlining (Ghostzapper), who also broke her maiden at Saratoga last
summer, has subsequently taken the Matron (G2) and the Ruthless, both over six
furlongs. In her lone attempt beyond three-quarters of a mile, the Michelle
Nevin pupil finished second in the one-mile Tempted (G3) on Aqueduct's main
track.
Overprepared (Quality Road) goes for Princess of Sylmar's trainer, Todd
Pletcher, and enters off a 1 1/4-length score in the January 16 Busanda going
one mile and 70 yards. She appears to be the most logical threat to keep Condo
Commando honest in the early stages.
Liberty Island (Harlem Rocker), runner-up in the Busanda in only her second
career start, looks best of the remainder. The field is rounded out by Sweet On
Smokey (Successful Appeal), fourth in the Busanda as an 87-1 outsider, and
recent maiden graduate Hold Me Down (Hold Me Back).
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