Ten Strike Racing’s co-manager, Marshall Gramm, hopes that the sophomore won the championship twice eye-catching clover could make his presence known on the Kentucky Derby (G1) trail when targeting $300,000 Gotham Stakes (G3) on March 4 at Aqueduct race track.
One-mile Gotham is the local penultimate leg of the Road to the Kentucky Derby and awards points to the top five finishers on a 50-20-15-10-5 scale.
Eyeing Clover was the first winner in a six-stroke sprint on New Year’s Eve at Oaklawn Park before shipping to Fair Grounds Racecourse & Slots and beat the winners who walked the same distance on January 28 by 9 3/4 of the length. He is trained by Brad Cox, who won the most recent local qualifier when Gary and Mary West’s impressions won Withers Stakes (G3) on Feb. 4.
According to Gramm, who manages Ten Strike Racing with Clay Sanders, a strong run in Gotham will likely secure a return to Oaklawn for the April 1 Arkansas (G1) Derby — Kentucky Derby 100 qualifiers- 40-30-20-10.
“Our core partners are Arkansas and we want to use this step towards the Arkansas Derby. It’s a race that we really want to win and be in,” Gramm said. “For us, the dream race is the Arkansas Derby and Gotham seems like a good stepping stone for it. We don’t want to jump from a grant to a first-time routing in Rebel (G2) next week from a timing standpoint, and that race looks really tough. But Gotham looks like it could also be a really competitive race.”
Bred by Mike Abraham, Eyeing Clover, by Looking Lucky came out of the Forest Wildcat Flower Park, which made him half-brother to the female sprinter who won a graded bet paradisehasmynikki .
Gramm said: “We are huge Lookin At Lucky fans and we think this will get better as the distance gets longer and longer, even though his female family is quite sprinting. “We are excited about coming to New York for Gotham and excited about the future of the horse. They created a quick female family to Look Lucky and it got us an early developer. We have every reason to believe based on the male that he will improve over the longer term and we hope Gotham is the first step towards the Arkansas Derby.
Gramm credited blood supply agent Liz Crow, who is also Ten Strike Racing’s stable of operations, for picking up Eyeing Clover for $55,000 during Keeneland’s September 2021 Annual Sale.
“We worked with Liz and she bought all of our 1-year-olds and 2-year-olds. This is one of the things that really took her by surprise,” Gramm said. “It was a quick Lookin At Lucky and she knew our relationship with stallions and also loved the female family. Hopefully, putting those two together can put us on the right track.”
Eyeing Clover likely won’t be the only Gotham aspirant for Cox, who could also send a regal-breed maiden winner slide Mahoney . Owned by Gold Square, Slip Mahoney, by Arrogate and in addition to level 1 award winning mare AP Indy lucky made five stretches in 1:1 on Belmont Park follow-up training on February 18.
This press release has been edited by BloodHorse Staff for content and style.
