My hopes for the Queens County Stakes at Aqueduct over the weekend were completely dashed when five horses scratched. The field quickly morphed from interesting to embarrassingly short-staffed. Then, I spied this ridiculously named stakes race on the Tuesday card at Parx and a few questions were answered.
The Kris Kringle Stakes seems to be the event some trainers considered a backup to the Queens County. Two horses I really liked over the weekend, Surface to Air and Repo Rocks, were entered in both fields and seemed to scratch at Aqueduct when that field came up tough on a sloppy track. It’s a practical move by the trainers, but it was a little disappointing as a fan. I shouldn’t have to chase these cool horses all over the country, and yet, that seems to be exactly what I’m doing.