Brown targets Withers with promising maiden winners

The postponement and redrawing of the $200,000 Withers S. at Aqueduct yielded few changes in the composition of the field for the 1 1/8-mile Road to the Kentucky Derby prep. Originally scheduled for Jan. 31, the race will now be run Friday.

Trainer Chad Brown, who saddled two winners from five starters at the Big A during the month of January, will saddle two promising last-out maiden winners. Schoolyardsuperman, who unluckily fell in his debut back in September, coasted to a 5 3/4-length decision on Dec. 6 going one mile in his third start and drew the rail post for the Withers.

Breaking from post 6 is Ottinho, a Three Chimneys homebred half-brother to 2017 Horse of the Gun Runner who endured a tougher battle when landing a nine-furlong maiden on New Year's Eve. Pressured all the way, Ottinho pulled out the head victory after conceding a short lead at the eighth pole.

Other recent graduates in the Withers field are the multiple stakes-placed New York-bred Fourth and One and Talk to Me Jimmy. 

Mailata was entered in the Jerome S. early last month, but instead stayed put at his Philadelphia base to contest the Parx Future Stars S. The Butch Reid trainee romped in the seven-furlong heat by 19 lengths as a 1-5 favorite. Mailata, who dropped his first two starts, is 3-for-3 since adding blinkers.

"It really seems to have sharpened up his focus and he's really paying attention to what he's doing on the track," Reid said.

Grittiness is a four-loss maiden who most recently finished fifth in the track-and-distance Remsen (G2) on Dec. 6. The field is completed by allowance winner Star Sweeper, who might instead opt for the Spectacular Bid S. at Laurel on Wednesday.

The respective top five finishers in the Withers will receive Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis.