Handicapping: Aqueduct's All-Stakes Pick 4

Other than the Starlet Stakes (G1) at Los Alamitos Race Course, where Bob Baffert sends out three of the six entrants, the graded stakes action in North American on the first Saturday of December takes place solely at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The last four graded stakes of 2021 in New York—the Go for Wand Handicap (G3), Remsen Stakes (G2), Demoiselle Stakes (G2), and the Cigar Mile Handicap Presented By NYRA Bets (G1)—comprise a classy late pick four.

Also of note, Gulfstream Park puts on the ever-popular Claiming Crown as their "Championship Meet" gets underway following an 11-day break. And the $150,000 Mistletoe Stakes for 3-year-old fillies is the headliner as Oaklawn Park on the second day of an expanded meet that goes all the way through the first Saturday in May.

Let's hone in on the Big A, where the forecast calls for seasonable temperatures and partly sunny skies.

Go for Wand (race 7, 2:43 ET): Three of the seven fillies and mares in this one-turn mile have won the Pumpkin Pie Stakes—Lady Rocket  (2) and Truth Hurts  (6), who took divisions of the seven-furlong race a few weeks back; and Honor Way  (5), who won it last year. 

Those runnings of the Pumpkin Pie were all in the slop, and last year's Go for Wand winner, Sharp Starr  (7), is coming off a 16-1 upset score in a sloppy Empire Distaff Handicap Oct. 30.

Lady Rocket ran the second Pumpkin Pie division several ticks faster than Truth Hurts (1:24.11 vs 1:24.99), but stretches out past seven furlongs for the first time and is favored at 8-5 on the morning line. 

Coming from the opposite end of the distance spectrum is Miss Marissa  (1), who has notched grade 2 wins each of the last two years at 1 1/8 miles and 1 1/4 miles, but who hasn't been this short since early in 2020. Miss Marissa came up empty and faded out of the picture in the Turnback The Alarm Handicap (G3) last out, but has rebounded from similar defeats to run big a couple of times this year.

The distance is a bit of a stretch for Lady Rocket, and perhaps a bit short for Miss Marissa, but Sharp Starr is a true miler, and, what's more, she should be able to sit a good trip tracking those two from outside.

A - 2, 7

B - 1, 6

Remsen (race 8, 3:14 ET): Mo Donegal  (1) and Zandon  (7) come off promising maiden victories for Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown respectively, and head a field of eight 2-year-olds attempting to stretch out to nine furlongs. The way Mo Donegal and Zandon finished up suggests they can get the trip, particularly the latter, who ran his last couple eighth-of-a-mile segments in 11.95 and 11.78 seconds. 

Be that as it may, the others have some positive aspects, and with so little to go on at this point in terms of class and ability at the distance, this is the kind of situation where it can pay to spread.

Another potential up-and-comer is Judge Davis  (3), who adds blinkers after flattening out in the Nashua Stakes (G3) and settling for third. The Distorted Humor  colt is from the same owner-trainer-jockey combo as Greatest Honour , who Shug McGaughey developed to win the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) and the Fasig-Tipton Fountain Of Youth Stakes (G2) last winter. 

I'd also feel silly getting knocked out of multi-race wagers by Who Hoo Thats Me  (2), a New York-bred who earned the field's top Beyer Speed Figure when third in a sloppy Sleepy Hollow first time going long.

And what if the maiden Fromanothamutha  (4), second in his last two to Mo Donegal and Judge Davis, sets up shop on an easy lead?

A - 1, 7

B - 2, 3

C - 4

Demoiselle (race 9, 3:43 ET): The Remsen's filly counterpart also got a field of eight, and must also be approached with some trepidation since nobody has been this far.

Nest  (5) comes off a grinding third in the Tempted Stakes, beaten a neck for second by Magic Circle  (7), and she seems capable of turning the tables stretching out from a mile based on the fact that her full brother, Idol , won the 1 1/4-mile Santa Anita Handicap (G1) earlier this year.

Tap the Faith  (6) comes off a debut win going a mile, in which she outdueled heavily favored A Mo Reay  and galloped out strongly. The $1.25 million Tapit   filly is out of 2015 Alabama Stakes (G1) winner Embellish the Lace , and may relish the added ground.

Venti Valentine  (3), was a good-figure winner of the one-mile Maid Of The Mist over New York-breds in the slop, but Irad Ortiz Jr. is getting off in order to reunite with Nest.

Nostalgic  (4), a Godolphin homebred by Medaglia d'Oro  , comes off a debut win at 1 1/16 miles that visually knocked everyone's socks off, yet the Beyer came back a paltry 48. Go figure.

A - 5, 6

B - 3, 4, 7

Cigar Mile (race 10, 4:13 ET): Two sons of Constitution  —the 3-year-old Americanrevolution  (3) and the 4-year-old Independence Hall   (5)—will take lots of action as they come off big-figure wins in the slop.

Americanrevolution freaked with a 108 Beyer taking the Empire Classic by nearly a dozen lengths, and it's hard to say whether he'll bounce simply because he has never taken a backward step by the numbers, improving anywhere from three to 13 points with each outing.

Independence Hall led his rivals a merry chase in a sloppy Hagyard Fayette Stakes (G2) Oct. 30, and now returns to a dirt track over which he romped in the Nashua and Jerome Stakes at the turn of 2019-20.

Following Sea  (1) has run his two fastest races sprinting at Belmont, but I liked the way he regrouped for third in the Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1). Whether he can get a mile is the main thing, talent he has in spades.

Code of Honor   (4) is the most accomplished of these, and the classy campaigner has run well previously when shortening up from wet-track races, as he does here after being forced into chasing Independence Hall around the track in the Fayette. However, his two victories in 2020-21 have been at the grade 3 level, and there is also this foreboding Beyer pattern to consider: Last three races with Lasix—105-101-106; three races without Lasix—94-99-94.

Ginobli (6) is another hard-to-gauge type, who, like, Following Sea, comes off a good try at the Breeders' Cup chasing Life Is Good  in the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1). It's difficult to say whether the turnaround by this son of Munnings   in his last three races was due to the addition of blinkers, an affinity for the Del Mar surface, or, most likely, a combination of those things.

A - 3, 5

B - 1, 6

C - 4