Man in Finance one to look out for in $100K Notebook

Impressive maiden winner Man in Finance headlines a talented field of seven in Saturday’s $100,000 Notebook, a six-furlong sprint over the main track for New York-bred 2-year-olds, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Owned and trained by Danny Gargan, the Central Banker gelding drew off to a 7 3/4-length debut score sprinting six-furlongs against fellow state-breds on September 21 at Saratoga Race Course.

There, Man in Finance [post 1, Luis Rivera, Jr.] tracked from second position under returning rider Luis Rivera, Jr. as returning foe Kenny Be, who stumbled at the start, set splits of 22.99 seconds and 46.64 over the fast main track. Man in Finance made a three-wide move late in the turn and took command with three-sixteenths to run en route to a commanding score in a final time of 1:11.16. The winning effort garnered an 82 Beyer Speed Figure, and the result was validated when the David Duggan-trained Kenny Be returned to win impressively.

“I guess the horse to beat might be the horse he beat that day, who came back to win easy. They’re both good horses.” Gargan said. “He was very professional on debut. He’s been like that from Day One – he’s a very professional type horse and he wants to do it. He’s fast and he doesn’t have to have the lead. We like him and we’re happy to have him.”

Gargan said he always had high hopes for the $62,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Preferred New York-bred Yearling Sale purchase.

“He’s a pretty horse – a really nice athletic horse,” Gargan said. “I had him down at Ocala and Gene Recio broke him at Lynwood and he called me up and said he really liked the Central Banker horse.

“We thought a lot of him and thought he would break his maiden at Saratoga,” Gargan added. “I was getting ready to run him and there was a storm coming so I walked everything in the barn that day and he got rowdy in the stall and got a little cut on his leg, so he had to miss a race because of it.”

Gargan said he is using the Notebook as a springboard to the $500,000 NYSSS Great White Way, a seven-furlong spring for eligible New York-sired juveniles on December 14 at the Big A. The lucrative Great White Way is among the richest juvenile state-sired stakes in the country and likely to attract a talented field that includes the Gargan-trained maiden winner National Identity and the Brad Cox-conditioned Sacrosanct, who is undefeated in three starts topped by a pair of New York-bred stakes wins.

Man in Finance worked back twice over the Oklahoma dirt training track last month and most recently went a half-mile in 49 flat Friday over the Belmont Park dirt training track. A half-brother to multiple stakes-placed Unique Unions, Man in Finance is out of the multiple stakes-placed Eltish mare Nicole’s Miss El.