Like Now! Steals Gotham Stakes

2008 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park

The 2008 Breeders' Cup, thoroughbred racing's most prestigious event, consisting of 14 Breeders' Cup races and $25.5 million in purses, will be held on October 24-25, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

With filly Zenyatta remaining undefeated as the 2008 Breeders' Cup Ladies' Day concludes, see the October 24 Breeders' Cup results & Payouts. Breeders' Cup Day Saturday will be highlighted by the Breeders' Cup Classic where Horse of the Year Curlin will defend his title against Casino Drive of Japan, Raven's Pass of Europe and other horse racing stars.

Posted on Monday, March 20th, 2006

An expected speed duel never materialized in Saturday’s $200,000 Gotham (gr. III) at Aqueduct, and John Dillon’s 36-1 shot Like Now took full advantage, leading the field all the way to the wire while holding off the previously undefeated Keyed Entry by a neck in a long stretch duel.

Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, the Florida homebred had never raced farther than six furlongs and had never faced graded competition. He set comfortable fractions in the 1 1/16-mile event for 3-year-olds for jockey Fernando Jara while opening up a three-length lead on the backstretch.

The Jules gelding came under pressure in the upper stretch but refused to throw in the towel when challenged by the Todd Pletcher-trained Keyed Entry, who was being taught to rate by jockey Edgar Prado but could not get to even terms with Like Now as they fought to the wire. The final time on the inner dirt track was 1:43.

A no-show was the actual 3-2 favorite in the 10-horse field - Achilles of Troy - who started slowly and raced in the rear of the pack to the far turn. He could not make an impact while trying to rally on the outside for Ramon Dominguez. A stakes winner on the Aqueduct inner dirt in both of his last two starts, Achilles of Troy checked in fifth.

McLaughlin is thinking Derby, with the Wood Memorial (gr. I) April 8 to be Like Now’s final prep.

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"Like Now! Steals Gotham Stakes" was posted on Monday, March 20th, 2006 at 10:03 am and is filed under Aqueduct, Horses, Kentucky Derby, Stakes Races. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.