In late December, trainer Butch Reid had a tough decision to make.
Should he run his promising now 3-year-old Mailata in the $139,500 Jerome Stakes on Jan.3 at Aqueduct Racetrack or the Dec. 30 Future Stars Stakes at his home base of Parx Racing?
Reid opted to stay in Pennsylvania and was rewarded with a 19-length win in the $67,500 stakes as Cash is King and L C Racing's homebred son of Maximus Mischief romped over two rivals.
"We wanted to get one more race into him before we put him in the van," Reid said, "and it worked out very well."
Now comes the road trip.
The Pennsylvania-bred Mailata will leave Parx, where he has made all five of his career starts, and travel to New York for the delayed $200,000 Withers Stakes for 3-year-olds at the frosty Big A. The 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Derby (G1) prep was originally scheduled for Jan. 31 but was shifted to Feb. 6 when that card was scrapped due to the extreme cold.
"We knew the time was coming to ship him and it looks like it will be this week," Reid said. "He's doing well. He missed a few days of training due to the weather but he's been galloping nicely."
Though based at Parx, Reid is well known for shipping fast and sharp runners to New York as illustrated in two previous Withers wins with Uncle Heavy in 2024 and Afleet Again in 2010. Heading to New York off three straight wins by a combined margin of 25 lengths, Mailata certainly has the credentials to give Reid a good shot at a third Withers win.
"He is pretty much brimming with confidence now. There's only one way to find out how good he is and that's why we're running in the Withers," Reid said about the lone stakes winner in the field. "The big question for me is going from seven-eighths to a mile-and-an-eighth, but he acts like a horse who has no limits on how far he can run. He broke his maiden at a two-turn mile and his daddy won the Remsen at a mile and an eighth at Aqueduct. But he's facing a new level of competition, and he'll have to step up to win."
Named for Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Jordan Mailata by the owners who are Eagles season ticket holders, the bay colt will be running for a share of the 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby qualifying points awarded to the top five finishers in the field of seven.
The main competition figures to come from two intriguing maiden winners sent out by trainer Chad Brown, Schoolyardsuperman (Practical Joke ) and Ottinho (Quality Road ), and the New York State-bred Fourth and One (Maxfield ), who is stakes-placed.
Friday card features five stakes
Due to the brutal cold and cancellations last weekend, Friday's 11-race card features five stakes.
Included on that list are the $150,000 Toboggan Stakes at 7 furlongs and the $135,000 Ruthless Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, also at 7 furlongs.
In the Toboggan, Reid will send out Maximus Meridius (Maximus Mischief) in a bid to register back-to-back wins in the sprint stakes.
Tempted Stakes winner Shilling (Global Campaign) and Busanda Stakes runner-up Two Bits (American Pharoah) head a field of seven in the Ruthless.
The card also includes the Ladies Stakes and Interborough Stakes.
Aqueduct Racetrack, Friday, February 6, 2026, Race 10Entries: Withers S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Grittiness (KY) Ricardo Santana, Jr. 123 Todd A. Pletcher 9/2 2 2Schoolyardsuperman (KY) Manuel Franco 123 Chad C. Brown 2/1 3 3Ottinho (KY) Jose Lezcano 123 Chad C. Brown 9/5 4 4Star Sweeper (KY) Angel R. Rodriguez 123 Louis C. Linder, Jr. 20/1 5 5Mailata (PA) Mychel J. Sanchez 123 Robert E. Reid, Jr. 6/1 6 6Talk to Me Jimmy (NY) Ruben Silvera 123 Rudy R. Rodriguez 12/1 7 7Fourth and One (NY) Jaime Rodriguez 123 Jeremiah C. Englehart 6/1
