Highly Motivated emerges from winter break in Gotham

Mar 03, 2021 Vance Hanson/Brisnet.com

Trainer Chad Brown has been rather quiet so far on the road to the 2021 Kentucky Derby (G1), but that could change on Saturday when he sends out two candidates in the $300,000 Gotham S. (G3) at Aqueduct over one mile.

The more experienced of the two, Highly Motivated, makes his belated season debut having last dominated rivals in the Nyquist S., a 6 1/2-furlong sprint held over Breeders' Cup weekend at Keeneland last November. The son of Into Mischief won for the second time in three starts, beating a good field by 4 1/4 lengths. Both the second- and third-place finishers from the Nyquist won their respective next starts.

'All three of his races have been excellent, they have been outstanding efforts,' Brown said. 'He certainly has kept good company.'

Stepping up from a debut maiden win for Brown is Crowded Trade, who rallied to beat maiden foes by a length going six furlongs. Both Highly Motivated and Crowded Trade race in the red and white Klaravich Stable colors.

Capo Kane, who captured the Jerome S. on Jan. 1 by more than six lengths before weakening to third in the nine-furlong Withers (G3) last month, should relish the cut back in trip for Parx-based trainer Harold Wyner,

'In the Withers, I didn't really have the screws all the way tight on him because I had missed five days of training and I couldn't breeze him when I wanted to breeze him,' said Wyner, who said he expects the colt to be rated off the other Gotham. 'Going into this race, I was able to breeze him when I wanted to and train him as normal.'

Invading from California are the Bob Baffert-trained Freedom Fighter, a close runner-up behind stablemate Concert Tour in the San Vicente (G2) last time, and the Doug O'Neill-trained Wipe the Slate, who disappointed in the Robert B. Lewis (G3) following an impressive maiden win around one turn.

“I'm not really thinking Derby with him yet,' said Baffert of Freedom Fighter. 'He's going to have to prove himself and then we'll see where he fits in.

'We'll see if he can get the mile. If you look at him, he's built for speed -- a sprinter type.'

Last-out maiden winners Atlantic Road, The Reds, and Weyburn complete the Gotham field.

The Gotham awards Kentucky Derby qualifying points of 50-20-10-5 to the respective top four finishers. Post time is 5:07 p.m. (ET) and it can be watched and wagered on at TwinSpires.com.