Unified Takes Grade 1 Aim in Carter Handicap

After winning four of his first five starts, Centennial Farms' Unified will try grade 1 company for the first time in the $400,000 Carter Handicap (G1) April 8 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Making the leap to grade 1 company a bit easier for Unified, a 4-year-old Candy Ride   colt, will be a field of nine that doesn't feature the usual depth expected in a top-level test. The seven-furlong main-track race on Saturday's Wood Memorial Stakes presented by NYRA Bets (G2) undercard has attracted just one horse with a grade 1 placing, Green Gratto, who finished second in the 2015 Carter.

Trained by Jimmy Jerkens for owner Centennial Farms, Unified opened his season with a neck victory over Mind Your Biscuits in the $100,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes (G3) Feb. 25. Mind Your Biscuits went onon to win the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaeen Sponsored by Gulf News (G1) March 25 at Meydan.

BLOODHORSE STAFF: Unified Edges Mind Your Biscuits

The victory in the 6 1/2-furlong Gulfstream Park Sprint kept Unified undefeated in sprint races. He won his six-furlong maiden debut in February of 2016 at Gulfstream, then followed with a three-length score in the Bay Shore Stakes (G3), a seven-furlong test for 3-year-olds contested on last year's Wood Memorial undercard.

Unified did successfully stretch out to 1 1/16 miles when he scored a victory in last year's Peter Pan Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park before he finished fifth in the Pegasus Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park in June.

"It was nothing in particular. He ran poorly [in the Pegasus], but he looked OK initially coming out of the race. Then when we got to Saratoga, he just looked like he didn't do good up there. He lost weight and he just wasn't surging into the bit like he was and was getting a little crampy in behind," Jerkens said. "We just stopped on him and gave him a little rest. He had done a lot in a short time and it looked like if we wanted to have an older horse, we should just pull the plug now and give him a good amount of time to get over everything and crank him back up."

Unified was back in top gear for his 4-year-old season opener.

"He was good and fresh and strong and he was able to take [the training]," said Jerkens. "Usually sprinter-type horses come out running because they're usually willing workhorses in the morning. You can prepare them off a break. When he came up to it, we were confident he was going to run good. 

"He was always a horse that carried good flesh until after the Monmouth race and he kind of fell away a little bit," he added. "But he got it back over the winter and he's held it pretty good. He hasn't missed a beat. You got to look at it positively, that's for sure."

Anthony and Gaston Grant's Green Gratto wintered in New York, where he scored a frontrunning win in the Toboggan Stakes (G3) Jan. 16 on the Aqueduct inner track. Trained by Gaston Grant, he will try to bounce back from a seventh-place finish in the Tom Fool Handicap (G3) March 11, a six-furlong test on the Aqueduct inner track won by Spartiatis, who will try the Carter along with the third-place finisher from that race King Kranz.

WINCZE HUGHES: Venerable Spartiatis Gets Tom Fool Victory

Making his first start at Aqueduct will be Fred Brei homebred Awesome Banner, who boasts five previous stakes wins—all at Gulfstream—including last year's Swale Stakes (G2). Making his debut for trainer Kenneth Decker, Awesome Banner will try to improve on his fourth-place effort in the Hardacre Mile Gufstream Park Handicap (G2) Feb. 11 at Gulfstream, when he was saddled by Mark Casse.

Other graded stakes winners in the field include Tommy Macho, who picked up his third grade 3 win in this season's Hal's Hope Stakes, and grade 3 winners Sassicaia and Ocean Knight. 

Carter H. (G1)

Aqueduct Racetrack, Saturday, April 08, 2017, Race 9

• 7f
• Dirt
• $400,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 5:15 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1All Star Red (KY)	Manuel Franco	113	Rudy R. Rodriguez	12/1
2	2Tommy Macho (KY)	Luis Saez	117	Todd A. Pletcher	7/2
3	3Sassicaia (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	114	Rudy R. Rodriguez	10/1
4	4Awesome Banner (FL)	John R. Velazquez	115	Kenneth Decker	8/1
5	5King Kranz (KY)	Kendrick Carmouche	115	John P. Terranova, II	20/1
6	6Spartiatis (KY)	Rajiv Maragh	116	Leon J. Blusiewicz	10/1
7	7Green Gratto (NJ)	Christopher P. DeCarlo	116	Gaston Grant	15/1
8	8Unified (KY)	Javier Castellano	120	James A. Jerkens	7/5
9	9Ocean Knight (KY)	Paco Lopez	115	Kiaran P. McLaughlin	6/1