The streaking 'TDN Rising Star' El Areeb (Exchange Rate), a dominating winner of the GIII Jerome S. Jan. 2 and GIII Withers S. Feb. 4, seeks his fifth straight victory in Saturday's GIII Gotham S. at the Big A.
Already armed with 20 qualifying points for the GI Kentucky Derby, trainer Cathal Lynch initially intended to pass on the Gotham and point the M M G Stables colorbearer to next month's GII Wood Memorial S., but decided to call an audible based on the gray's recent training, including a five-furlong bullet in 1:00 4/5 (1/9) at Laurel Feb. 26. El Areeb is currently ranked number five on TDN's Top 12 Kentucky Derby Contenders, brought to you by WinStar Farm.
“That was my plan originally, to skip the Gotham and wait for the Wood, but he's been doing so well,” Lynch offered from his Maryland base. “That's a scary thing about him [in the mornings], he looks like he's two-minute licking and then you look down at the watch and it's :47, 1:00, 1:13…”
Lynch continued, “He's been doing it fairly easy and acting like he wants to go do something. We won't stand in his way. I didn't know if I really felt like sitting on him for another four weeks if he's going right.”
So Conflated (Eskendereya) invades from the West Coast for trainer Doug O'Neill off a win in Golden Gate's California Derby Jan. 21 while trainer Todd Pletcher ships in the unbeaten Action Everyday (The Factor) from Florida off a pair of wins at Tampa Bay.
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