Jerome attracts Studlydoright, Thorpedo Anna’s half-brother McAfee

Dec 30, 2024 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

McAfee, a half-brother to Thorpedo Anna, wins his debut at Churchill Downs

McAfee, a half-brother to Thorpedo Anna, wins his debut at Churchill Downs (Photo by Coady Media)

Eight newly-turned three-year-olds will contest Saturday’s $150,000 Jerome S. at Aqueduct, the first Kentucky Derby (G1) points race of 2025. Post time is 3:39 p.m. ET, a little more than an hour before the very next scoring race, the Smarty Jones S. at Oaklawn Park.

Stakes veteran Studlydoright meets several promising up-and-comers, including McAfee, a half-brother to 2024 Kentucky Oaks (G1) star and Horse of the Year candidate Thorpedo Anna.

Studlydoright comes off a fourth in the previous Road to the Kentucky Derby contest at Aqueduct, the Dec. 7 Remsen (G2) going 1 1/8 miles. But the son of 2016 Kentucky Derby champion Nyquist previously captured the Nashua S. over this same one-turn mile. Indeed, Studlydoright has the most extensive resume in the Jerome field, having also won last summer’s Tremont and placed second in the Sanford (G3) and Laurel Futurity for trainer Jerry Robb.

Robb forecasts a better effort than in the Remsen, where Studlydoright was compromised by an interrupted training regimen.

“He missed a lot of training,” Robb said. “I wasn’t sure he was quite fit enough. He came up like he might’ve been a little light, because we lost the track at Laurel Park quite a few days. He is a little bit fitter. I know he is fit; like I said, last time he came up a little short on me.”

The only other stakes winner in the line-up, Mansetti, has raced exclusively in sprints on the Tapeta surface at Woodbine. The Kevin Attard trainee wired the Clarendon S., a six-furlong dash restricted to Ontario-bred (or sired) juveniles, in his latest.

“Physically, he's built more like a sprinter,” Attard said. “He's a good size for a younger horse, but he does show a tendency to be a little bit headstrong. Stretching out, he's going to have to relax, and we've been working on that. Hopefully, as he grows and matures, he will figure that out.”

McAfee has run well in both of his starts at Churchill Downs. Trained by Rick Dutrow, who prepared 2008 Derby and Preakness (G1) champion Big Brown, he rolled in his Nov. 1 sprint debut before missing by a head around a similar one-turn mile. The winner of that race, Optical, runs later in Saturday’s Smarty Jones.

“He’s huge,” Dutrow said of McAfee, a well-named colt by 2017 Preakness victor Cloud Computing. “He’s a big horse and we love him. We were so happy with him (in defeat last time). He ran like a true racehorse on the inside, kept coming, just stuff you really love to see for a second-time starter.”

Dutrow has another contender in Ican, most recently second to Cyclone State in an Aqueduct allowance. Ican stumbled badly at the start that day, or else he might have posed more of a challenge.

Cyclone State has scored back-to-back front-running victories over this track and trip. Three starts back, the Chad Summers pupil was a fine runner-up in a course-and-distance maiden to Aviator Gui, who went on to miss by a nose in the Remsen. As his name implies, Cyclone State is an Iowa-bred son of hot freshman sire McKinzie.

Omaha Omaha, a cleverly-named son of Audible, has likewise won two in a row but as a closer from well off the pace. Michael Gorham’s Maryland shipper went last to first in a Delaware Park maiden and repeated the tactic to dominate a Laurel allowance by seven lengths.

Georgia Magic, by champion Good Magic, just won at first asking in a six-furlong maiden here. The Raymond Handal runner takes a class and distance test in the Jerome.

Rounding out the cast is Enduring Spirit, who was well beaten in his past stakes attempts in the Bashford Manor S. and Ellis Park Juvenile. The Tiz the Law colt hopes to improve since switching to the barn of Jose Jimenez.

The Jerome is worth points on the 10-5-3-2-1 scale to the top five finishers. As the Derby trail heats up through the spring, Aqueduct will host the Feb. 1 Withers (G3), March 1 Gotham (G3), and April 5 Wood Memorial (G2).

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