Remsen, Demoiselle, Cigar Mile highlight Aqueduct card

Talkin enters the $250,000 Remsen (G2) at Aqueduct on Saturday with the benefit of having faced some of the better colts of his generation. But he also has the liability of needing to overcome post 11 in the 1 1/8-mile Road to the Kentucky Derby series prep.

A son of Good Magic, Talkin will look to become the third Remsen winner trained by Danny Gargan in four years. Gargan saddled Dubyuhnell to victory in 2022, and followed up the next year with eventual Belmont (G1) winner Dornoch.

Talkin, at least, has been battle-tested. In his Aug. 30 debut at Saratoga, Talkin won by a neck over Stradale, with Further Ado six lengths farther back. The latter went on to graduate at Keeneland by 20 lengths and added the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) last weekend.

Most recently, Talkin finished a distant second to Napoleon Solo in a swift edition of the Champagne (G1).

"He was in a good spot in the Champagne, then the horses kind of shuffled him back," Gargan said. “He went over to the rail, and a horse went in front of him there, so he went back outside...One of those things where speed was going and he just got shuffled out of it."

Only a head separated Renegade and Paladin at the finish of an Oct. 17 maiden at Aqueduct, with Renegade demoted from first and placed second behind Paladin for interference. However, bettors in last week's Kentucky Derby Future Wager are much more keen on Paladin, who closed at odds of 22-1 with Renegade at 63-1.

Paladin shares a profile similar to that of Sierra Leone, who was narrowly beaten by Dornoch in the Remsen but went on to run a close second in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and was named three-year-old champion. Both sons of Gun Runner, they also share a mutual ownership interest (Coolmore) and trainer (Chad Brown). 

"He ran a really good race and got herded late, and I was happy that he got put up," Brown said of Paladin's debut. "Once he felt that other horse and straightened out again, he galloped out really well."

Renegade, still officially a maiden after two starts, is joined in the field by stablemates Courting and Grittiness. Courting, a last-out maiden winner, is by Curlin and out of multiple Grade 1 winner Cavorting. The latter is also the dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Clairiere.

Other notables in the Remsen include Balboa, easy winner of the James F. Lewis III S. at Laurel; maiden winner Ignite; and the Nashua S. second and third, Probably Dreaming and Day One Starter.

The Remsen offers Kentucky Derby qualifying points of 10-5-3-2-1 to the respective top five finishers.

A much smaller field of two-year-old fillies lines up in the $250,000 Demoiselle (G2), also at nine furlongs. Todd Pletcher, an eight-time winner of the race, including four in a row (2020-23), has entered Zany, a dominating debut winner at Gulfstream last month, and Believable, second to Shilling in the Tempted S. over a mile.

Jumping the Gun invades from Delaware Park, where she won two of three stakes attempts, while Concurrently stretches out after graduating in her third attempt.

The Demoiselle offers Kentucky Oaks (G1) qualifying points of 10-5-3-2-1 to the respective top five finishers.

The most lucrative of the four graded stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday is the $500,000 Cigar Mile H. (G2), and the top draws are a trio of horses-for-the-course.

Phileas Fogg shortens up after defeating Antiquarian and Locked in the 10-furlong Suburban (G2) in July and finishing second to Locked in the Woodward (G2) in late September. Bishops Bay is 2-for-2 over the strip with scores in the Westchester (G3) and Forty Niner (G3), while Crazy Mason recently placed in the Forego (G1) and Vosburgh (G3) after an early-season triumph in the Carter (G2).