Butch Reid may call Parx Racing home, but New York has been a rather pleasing home away from home for the trainer.
Though he makes only occasional trips to the Empire State, they have been highly productive of late.
At Aqueduct Racetrack's fall and winter meets, he has sent out eight starters, with two wins, both in stakes, a second, and a third for earnings of $244,000. That averages out to an enviable $30,500 per start.
"We love running in New York. It's always a fun time," said Reid, who has won three New York Racing Association graded stakes since 2020. "We have good, quality horses and if you have a quality horse it doesn't matter where it is based. I have the right owners going to the sales, picking out the right horses. And that's the key, the raw material you start with."
Reid's success in shipping across the Hudson River is one of the storylines in the $250,000 Withers Stakes (G3), the Feb. 3 second of four NYRA monthly Kentucky Derby (G1) preps for 3-year-olds at the Big A. The Withers, which just two years ago saw winner Early Voting go on to win the Preakness Stakes (G1), offers a total of 42 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby to the top five finishers in a 20-10-6-4-2 fashion.
Reid is sending out Michael Milam's stakes-winning Uncle Heavy in the Withers largely because of the two-turn, mile-and-an-eighth distance. The Pennsylvania-bred son of Social Inclusion, bred by Barbara Reid (the trainer's sister-in-law), won the mile-and-70-yard Wait For It Stakes for state-breds at Parx in his previous start and Butch Reid says the added distance should be no problem for the winner of two of three career starts.
"This is a horse we have been high on all the time. I don't think any distance is too long for him and it's not easy to find mile-and-an-eighth races at this time of year," Reid said about the son of the Tiz Wonderful mare Expect Wonderful. "His last race was a good one. It was a state-bred race but he was wide around both turns and he handled it very well. That made us decide to take a step up and take a shot with this one."
With Jerome Stakes winner Drum Roll Please sidelined, El Grande O and Khanate, who were second and third, respectively, in that mile stakes, return in Saturday's test.
Barry Schwartz's El Grande O, a New York-bred son of Take Charge Indy trained by Linda Rice, set the pace in the Jerome and finished 3 3/4 lengths behind the winner. Calumet's Khanate was another 7 1/2 lengths back in third.
A son of Hightail , Khanate is one of the two starters trained by Todd Pletcher. The eight-time Eclipse Award winner is also sending out Whisper Hill Farm's homebred maiden winner Speed Runner (Gun Runner ).
The field of nine also includes Florida-bred stakes winner Seminole Chief (Girvin ) and Lightline, a $600,000 son of City of Light trained by Brad Cox who was second in an Oaklawn Park allowance optional claiming race.
Aqueduct Racetrack, Saturday, February 3, 2024, Race 9Entries: Withers S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Speed Runner (KY) Jose Lezcano 118 Todd A. Pletcher 5/1 2 2Deposition (KY) Dexter Haddock 118 Uriah St. Lewis 50/1 3 3Lightline (KY) Manuel Franco 118 Brad H. Cox 8/5 4 4El Grande O (NY) Kendrick Carmouche 118 Linda Rice 5/2 5 5Seminole Chief (FL) Trevor McCarthy 118 Jack Sisterson 12/1 6 6Society Man (KY) Isaac Castillo 118 Danny Gargan 20/1 7 7Mission Beach (KY) Dylan Davis 118 Brittany T. Russell 6/1 8 8Uncle Heavy (PA) Mychel J. Sanchez 118 Robert E. Reid, Jr. 10/1 9 9Khanate (KY) Eric Cancel 118 Todd A. Pletcher 15/1
