Crazy Mason returns to graded company in G2 Carter presented by NYRA Bets

Donna Wright and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing’s Crazy Mason will take on a salty field of veteran sprinters in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Carter presented by NYRA Bets, a seven-furlong test for older horses, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The Carter is slated as Race 10 on Saturday’s stacked 13-race program headlined by the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino in Race 12. The 100th running of the Wood Memorial offers 100-50-25-15-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers. 

Wood Memorial Day will also feature the Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle [Race 9] at nine furlongs for sophomore fillies offering 100-50-25-15-10 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points to the top-five finishers; the Grade 3, $175,000 Distaff [Race 7], a seven-furlong contest for older fillies and mares; and the Listed $150,000 Excelsior [Race 11] at 10 furlongs for older horses. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern.

Crazy Mason [post 1, Manny Franco, 118 pounds] will look to complete a hat trick of local wins as he returns to graded stakes company for the first time in more than one year for trainer Gregg Sacco.

With Sacco handling the Florida side of his winter racing operation, the veteran conditioner’s son, Will, has overseen a strong 25-8-2-5 record at the Big A winter meet, including the steadily improving Crazy Mason, who breezed a solo half-mile in 48.66 Saturday over the Belmont Park dirt training track under exercise rider Pablo Fragoso.

“He worked super. It was 48 and change and he galloped out in a minute,” Sacco said. “He's right on cue. Will's done a great job for me this winter with him and every race since the layoff he's been improving, so it's time to step up to the plate and get back in stakes competition. We expect another good effort."

The 4-year-old Coal Front gray was an impressive restricted maiden sprint winner in July 2023 at Saratoga Race Course ahead of a trio of stakes tries as a juvenile that include a third in the one-mile Rocky Run at Delaware Park and a second in the six-furlong Inaugural at Tampa Bay Downs.

He won a first-level allowance at Tampa Bay Downs last winter before embarking on the Kentucky Derby trail there when off-the-board in both the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis and Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby before concluding his 3-year-old season with a distant third in the one-mile and 70-yard Long Branch last May at Monmouth Park.

Sacco has focused Crazy Mason in sprint events since returning to action in November here when a close fourth traveling 6 1/2-furlongs against elders while racing from a six-month layoff. 

"He'd been in training since March of his 2-year-old year. We gave him four months off and cut him back to sprinting,” Sacco said. “All of his sprint races have been super, including the time he broke his maiden at Saratoga and when he was second in the Inaugural to Patriot Spirit, who turned out to be a really nice horse.”

Crazy Mason followed with a pair of visually appealing sprint scores against winners when rallying from last-of-11 from post 10 under Chris Elliott to best next-out allowance winner Radio Red on January 18 and closing from last-of-5 and 12 lengths off the pace after a troubled start to take a six-furlong optional-claimer with Eric Cancel up on February 21.

"Last time, he got slammed leaving the gate. He got steadied pretty hard,” Sacco said. “He's a very big horse and it took him a while to gather himself and get back into gear. If he had a clean break, I don't think he needs to come from left field. I think he'll be seeing the field again, but within range. 

"The previous run was by design,” Sacco added. “Will instructed Chris to get a clean break and work his way inside, so he wasn't parked. Chris did a great job. He had to put in a solid run to take that race down that day.”

Sacco said he is hopeful that Crazy Mason can make his return to graded company a winning one.

"We brought him back and the natural progression has been super from the 1X to the 2X,” Sacco said. “His numbers have been increasing, and it was just time to step back up into stakes competition. Hopefully, he can make that next step.

“We're excited with the way he's come back as a 4-year-old,” Sacco added. “The staff in New York - led by Will - have done a super job with everything this winter and I'm really proud of them.”

Crazy Mason is out of the graded stakes-placed Maria’s Mon mare Izshelegal, who is a half-sister to graded stakes-placed Comfort. His third dam is dual graded stakes-winner Katz Me If You Can, who captured the 2001 Grade 2 Genuine Risk Handicap at Belmont Park.

Donegal Racing’s Donegal Momentum [post 5, Javier Castellano, 118 pounds], who worked a sharp half-mile solo in 47.45 seconds Friday over the Belmont Park dirt training track, will cross-enter in the turf Grade 1, $650,000 Maker’s Mark Mile slated for April 11 at Keeneland.

“We will watch the weather in Kentucky. I do not want to go to Keeneland and run in a Grade 1 on soft ground. We will make that decision a day or two before the Carter,” trainer Tom Morley said. “He worked fabulously. We always said we were going to try dirt again with him. There's some rain in the forecast here and he was very impressive first time out on a muddy track, so it's not out of the reckoning that he will run here. My hope is the weather will be dry in Kentucky, and he will run there, but it does look wet there this week.”

The 4-year-old Uncle Mo colt made a successful seasonal debut by posting a half-length win in a two-turn optional-claiming mile on turf on March 6 at Fair Grounds Race Course.

The versatile dark bay has made his last four starts on turf, capturing the one-mile Gio Ponti here in October before traveling to Del Mar and finishing a close third in a key edition of the nine-furlong Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on November 30 to close out his sophomore campaign. In that event, Donegal Momentum landed one-length back of the victorious Formidable Man, who went on to take the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile; and a neck in arrears of runner-up King of Gosford, who subsequently captured the Grade 2 Mathis Mile.

Donegal Momentum made his first three starts over the main track, including a pair of efforts against elders here that included an 8 1/4-length maiden romp sprinting six furlongs over muddy and sealed footing in May and a half-length defeat traveling a one-turn mile in June that garnered a career-best 93 Beyer Speed Figure. He was a distant fourth in the Grade 2 Amsterdam in July at Saratoga before making a successful switch to turf in an August optional-claimer at the Spa.

Morley said Donegal Momentum has the profile to be a contender in either graded event, especially with the potential wet forecast for next weekend here.

“He's a supremely talented horse and the type we want more of in our barn,” Morley said. “He might not have got on the turf if he hadn't of got beaten in marginally freakish circumstances here in an 'a other than.' He ran fine in the Amsterdam to finish fourth, but the pedigree is a grass pedigree - it's a wet-track pedigree as well. He's just a very talented horse. It's fun to have one that can run on both surfaces like him.”

A $375,000 purchase at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Donegal Momentum, out of the stakes-placed Malibu Moon mare Moon Dash, has banked $285,250 through a 7-4-1-1 record.

Jay Em Ess Stable’s Kentucky homebred Full Moon Madness [post 4, Kendrick Carmouche, 120 pounds] will look to double up on graded scores for trainer Michelle Nevin.

The 5-year-old Into Mischief bay is out of the dual Grade 1-winning Indian Charlie mare By the Moon, who captured the 2014 Frizette and 2017 Ballerina on the NYRA circuit for these same connections. His second dam, the Grade 1-placed New York-bred By the Light, won multiple stakes for Jay Em Ess Stable, who purchased her as a yearling for $190,000.

Full Moon Madness, who was second in the Grade 3 Nashua here as a 2-year-old, has stepped forward in recent outings with local Listed stakes placings – despite troubled starts - when second in the six-furlong Gravesend in December and third in the seven-furlong Toboggan on February 1.

Last out, in the six-furlong Grade 3 Tom Fool on March 1 here, Full Moon Madness broke alertly and used a prominent trip to score by 1 1/4-lengths over returning rival Surveillance. The impressive score, completed in 1:11.10, registered a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

Nevin, who noted a clean break is key, said maturity may also be a factor in the rise of Full Moon Madness.

"Maybe age is on his side. Maybe that is what is helping him to really go forward now,” Nevin said. “He is a large, large horse. Maybe at age two and three, he was just still a little gangly and immature. Now he is starting to put it all together." 

Full Moon Madness has worked back twice, including a half-mile in 50.21 Thursday over the Belmont Park dirt training track.

He has banked $362,250 through a 12-4-2-3 ledger and will exit post 4 in rein to Kendrick Carmouche, who is closing in on his 4,000th career win.

LC Racing, Cash is King and Wellesley Stable’s Maximus Meridius [post 7, Joel Rosario, 118 pounds], who bested Full Moon Madness in both the aforementioned Gravesend and Toboggan, returns to the Big A in search of his third local stakes win.

Trained by Butch Reid, Jr., the 4-year-old Pennsylvania-bred son of Maximus Mischief exited those stakes wins to finish a close second as the prohibitive favorite in a state-bred allowance on February 25 at Parx Racing when bested a neck by a stubborn Harp’s Hot Corner. The game effort ended a streak of five straight 90-plus Beyers since being gelded last summer.

Bred by Westerly Farm, Maximus Meridius has banked $500,430 through a 14-5-5-1 record.

Paul Berube, Karen Linnell, and Heather B. Hunter’s Maryland-bred Quint’s Brew [post 2, Mychel Sanchez, 118 pounds] will make his first foray outside of Laurel Park for trainer Ned Allard.

The 4-year-old Mosler dark bay has won both his starts this year in impressive fashion while traveling one-turn, including a 98 Beyer for a six-length romp in the restricted one-mile Jennings on January 18. He followed on February 15 with a 5 1/2-length score in the Listed General George traveling seven furlongs over muddy and sealed footing, which garnered a career-best 101.

Quint’s Brew made his first three starts for trainer Michael Gorham, winning his first two outings while stretching out from a six-furlong graduation last March to one mile in April. He was elevated to second after a troubled outing in the seven-furlong Star De Naskra in June with his juvenile campaign coming to an end after he was entered in an October allowance but grabbed a quarter and had to be scratched.

“When I ran him the first time, he hadn’t run in six months so that was pretty impressive,” Allard said. “The Jennings was a one-turn mile, and he was very impressive. I thought he was going to run well that day, but he really impressed me. He trains like a good horse and he’s certainly now running like one also.”

Quint’s Brew, out of the winning New York-bred Jump Start mare Gansett, has banked $246,240 through ha 5-4-1-0 ledger.

Rounding out a competitive field are a strong pair from the Big A winter meet’s leading trainer Linda Rice, who sends out graded stakes-winner Surveillance [post 3, Jose Lezcano,118 pounds] and Sheriff Bianco [post 8, Ruben Silvera, 118 pounds], who took down the Say Florida Sandy here against fellow New York-breds last out; as well as graded stakes-placed Dilger [post 6, Dylan Davis, 118 pounds] for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. 

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct Racetrack spring meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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