Sculcos Folly takes them all the way in $135K Gander
Michael Dubb’s Sculcos Folly led each step of the way en route to a 5 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s $135,000 Gander, a one-turn mile for New York-bred sophomores, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Trained by Rick Dutrow, Jr., the son of Redesdale now has four wins from six starts, and landed his first stakes victory in his lone attempt off a 9 3/4-length starter optional claiming romp sprinting six furlongs on January 22 here, which garnered a field and lifetime-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure. The dark bay colt made his first start against fellow state-breds, and was the only New York-sired contender in the seven-horse field.
“He’s owned by a New York owner, trained by a New York trainer and he’s a New York-bred,” Dutrow, Jr. said. “Today is his sixth start and he’s been stabled in New York the whole time and it’s the first time he’s run with New York-breds. Isn’t that cool?”
The Gander was also the farthest test of Sculcos Folly’s career after making each of his previous starts between five and six furlongs, and Dutrow, Jr. said he was pleased to see the colt rise to the occasion.
“If it didn’t work, we knew that he could sprint. We took a shot, and it happened to work,” Dutrow, Jr. said. “Everybody wants to see their horses win all the time but if he couldn’t go that far, it wouldn’t have been a disappointment to me because it looks like he’s supposed to be sprinting.”
Sculcos Folly was away sharply from post 2 under Jaime Rodriguez and coasted up to take command exiting the chute, marking the opening quarter-mile in 23.12 seconds over the good footing with longshot Mission Critical tracking in second down the backstretch.
“He’s a relaxed horse to ride – he’s not rank,” said Rodriguez, who was aboard for the last-out win here. “You can do whatever you want with him. The more you let him get his feet underneath him and let him get comfortable, he can go all day.”
The Ricardo Santana, Jr.-piloted stakes-winner Minorinconvenience was coaxed along three-wide entering the turn as Sculcos Folly clocked the half-mile in 47.18 while Wamo maintained rail position to prepare for an inside rally and Mission Critical backpedaled.
Minorinconvenience took second while under a ride entering the lane, but Rodriguez sat chilly atop Sculcos Folly through three-quarters in 1:11.99 before giving left-handed encouragement approaching the eighth pole. Wamo dug in along the inside to tussle with Minorinconvenience, but the battle would be for the minor awards as Sculcos Folly stayed strong through the final sixteenth to post the comfortable victory in a final time of 1:36.94.
Minorinconvenience, who entered off a more than six-month layoff, stuck his neck in front of Wamo for place honors with Anyway completing the superfecta. The Dutrow, Jr.-trained The Obliterator, You’re Lookin Good and Mission Critical rounded out the order of finish.
Rodriguez said Sculcos Folly was well within himself throughout.
“We were a little concerned [about stretching out] because we didn’t know if he could take it or not, but the way he broke today he was so comfortable,” said Rodriguez. “When we got to the half-mile pole, he came back to me, and I just waited. I took a peek outside to see who was next to me and once we got to the quarter-pole, I gave him a tap on the shoulder, and he gave me another kick and exploded at the top of the lane. I looked back again and wrapped him up and let him do his own thing.”
Dutrow, Jr. said the next logical spot for Sculcos Folly is the $200,000 Mind Your Biscuits division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series on April 11 here, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for eligible New York-sired sophomores.
“That’s what we’re looking for – it’s a big money race – how can you not look at that,” the trainer concluded.
Bred by Lannister Holdings, Sculcos Folly was a $70,000 purchase at the 2025 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and is out of the 10-time winning Johannesburg mare Cool Johanna, who also produced stakes-placed winners D’fever and Zolo. He banked $74,250 in victory while improving his record to 6-4-1-0 and returning $3.86 as the 4-5 mutuel favorite.
Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with an eight-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
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