ROUNDUP : As Indicated Wins Gotham Stakes

As Indicated kept his Kentucky Derby hopes alive by winning the $200,000 Gotham Stakes by a neck Saturday at Aqueduct in New York.

The victory was the fourth in five starts for As Indicated, whose next race will be the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 17, trainer Rich Schosberg said.

Ridden by Ceasar Bisono and carrying 114 pounds, As Indicated barely finished ahead of Itaka. Favored Strolling Along was another 1 1/4 lengths back.

As Indicated covered the one mile on a track listed as good in 1:36 1/5 to earn $120,000 for Heatherwood Farm.

The winner paid $9.60, $6.20 and $4.20. Itaka paid $10 and $6, and Strolling Along paid $3.40.

Garrett Gomez rode Marked Tree into the lead in the late stretch and held off Brother Brown, with Pat Day aboard, to win the $300,000 Remington Park Derby by a head in Oklahoma City.

The victory in the 1 1/16-mile race, coupled with earlier victories in the Budweiser Stakes and Great West Stakes, made Marked Tree the first colt to sweep the Remington Park Derby Series.

“He’s run a big race. He really dug in. He ran a good race the last one-eighth mile,” Gomez said. “I wanted to try to keep him well in contention. I let him run the way he wanted to.”

Marked Tree, an Oaklawn Park-based entry owned by Loblolly Stable, was timed in 1:43 4/5 in beating Brother Brown and third-place Ragtime Rebel.

The son of Forty Niner returned $6, $3.20 and $2.60. Brother Brown paid $4.20 and $3.60 and Ragtime Rebel, with Luis Quinonez aboard, returned $7.20.

Loblolly trainer Tom Bohannan said no decision has been made on trying Marked Tree in the Kentucky Derby on May 1.

Despite some minor traffic problems, Southland-based Guiza went past the leaders in the stretch and won the $156,000 Budweiser Breeders’ Cup at Oaklawn Park by a length.

Guiza, the 4-5 favorite owned by Robert Witt, trained by Robert Frankel and ridden by Corey Nakatani, covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:44 3/5 and returned $3.80, $3 and $2.80.

Teddy’s Top Ten, part of a John Franks entry, returned $4.60 and $3.40. Southland-based Fappies Cosy Miss, the longest shot in the field at 28-1, was another length back and returned $5.40.

It was the first victory on the dirt for Guiza, a 6-year-old daughter of Golden Act.

Guiza was third in the Grade I Santa Margarita at Santa Anita on Feb. 28, beaten by less than two lengths by Southern Truce and Paseana. Three weeks later, she was third in another stakes race at Santa Anita.