NEWS
Nobiz Like Shobiz resumes campaign in Dwyer
Posted: Monday, July 02, 2007 4:04 PM
NOBIZ LIKE SHOBIZ WINNING THE 2007 WOOD MEMORIAL
Adam Coglianese/NYRA photo
by Jeff Lowe
Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) winner Nobiz Like Shobiz will kick off the second half of his season on Wednesday against familiar rivals Any Given Saturday and Sightseeing in the $150,000 Dwyer Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park.
Nobiz Like Shobiz will make his first start since his tenth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 5. The Albert the Great colt won the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) and finished third in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park before winning the Wood Memorial on April 7 at Aqueduct in his final start before the Kentucky Derby.
“I wanted to freshen him up,” trainer Barclay Tagg said. “He’s had four hard races this year with the Kentucky Derby and three major preps. That’s tough on a young horse.”
Nobiz Like Shobiz wore blinkers in the Derby and when he defeated Sightseeing and Any Given Saturday in the Wood Memorial, but Tagg will remove the equipment for the 1 1/16-mile Dwyer.
“We put them on in the Wood and they worked to help him focus more, but he’s doing that on his own now,” Tagg said.
Sightseeing will add blinkers in the Dwyer. The Pulpit colt finished second in the Wood Memorial and followed with a nose victory in the Peter Pan Stakes (G2) on May 20 at Belmont in his most recent start.
“I was a little concerned about him not finishing up when he was asked in the Peter Pan,” Racing Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said. “When [jockey Edgar Prado] asked him the other day, it kind of took him a little while.”
Any Given Saturday also has not raced since finishing eighth in the Kentucky Derby. The Distorted Humor colt won the Sam F. Davis Stakes and finished second to Street Sense in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3), prior to his third-place finish in the Wood Memorial.
First Defence will make his first stakes appearance in the Dwyer after winning a first-level allowance race at seven furlongs in 1:20.96 on May 26 at Belmont. The Unbridled’s Song colt is out of Grade 1 winner Honest Lady, by Seattle Slew.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
