Aqueduct Racetrack Picks: Gotham Stakes Day, 2/28/26

Key Takeaways:

• Gotham Stakes Day at Aqueduct sets up as a trip-and-pace dependent card, where one-turn miles and contested early fractions should reward tactical runners and late kickers.
• With clear weather, a fair main track, and multiple races featuring speed-heavy lineups, value should emerge among horses capable of stalking and finishing strongly.
• Nycon offers upset appeal in the Busher, drawing the rail, returning to her preferred one-turn mile, and projecting a perfect pace setup for the sport.
• One Nine Hundred stands out as the most reliable speed in the Tom Fool, entering in peak form and ready to translate allowance dominance into graded-stakes success.
• Yo Daddy profiles as the ideal trip horse in the Stymie, bringing tactical versatility, proven Big A mile form, and attractive price value.

Saturday, February 28, Aqueduct Racetrack hosts a full day of thoroughbred racing action, headlined by the Gotham Stakes, a 50-point Kentucky Derby prep featuring a group of promising three-year-old colts and geldings. However, there’s far more horse racing action in Queens on Friday.

The card at Aqueduct on Saturday features three other stakes races: the Tom Fool (G3) for older sprinters, the Stymie for older milers, and the Busher for sophomore fillies. The Busher, the fillies’ complement to the Gotham, is a Kentucky Oaks prep that virtually guarantees the winner a spot in the starting gate at Churchill Downs.

First post for the card is at 12:40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and all races are set to take place on the dirt track. FanDuel TV is here to keep you up-to-date with the latest news on the contenders at Aqueduct and all over the country, and you can get past performances and bet every race online at FanDuel from the convenience of your phone or computer. Don’t forget to check the scratches before betting; weather is expected to be clear, but scratches can happen for any reason and affect the pace and class balance of the race.

Here are three best bets in more stakes races at Aqueduct on Gotham day:

Aqueduct Picks - 2026 Gotham Stakes Day Best Bets

Race 2: Busher Stakes, one mile on the dirt - Nycon, Paradise

FanDuel odds: 3-1 and 7-5

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The road to the Kentucky Oaks comes to Aqueduct on Saturday, and the good news for the horses in the Busher is that all the finishers are going to get points, since the top five horses earn Oaks points and five horses line up for the race. Just as with racing through the season, the dirt mile is a one-turn mile: on the outer course, not the inner dirt track.

Two of those five entrants are from the barn of Whit Beckman. Blazing Brat looks a little overmatched, but perhaps she was entered just to make sure the race filled for her stablemate, top pick Nycon (3-1). She needed two starts to get off the mark, but she scored in a maiden dirt mile at Churchill two back in the mud, and just missed in the one-mile Cash Run at Gulfstream in her stakes debut on New Year's Day. Now the daughter of Nyquist returns to the one-turn mile trip. Jaime Torres, her rider in all three of her starts, hops on the plane to ride in the Busher. The rail has been playing well at Aqueduct, and with a couple of horses outside of her who aren't proven anywhere but on the lead, Nycon can reel them in down the lane.

Another horse who has a shot to not get burned up amid the early speed is Paradise (7-5). Yes, she wired her maiden-breaker last out at Gulfstream, going the one-turn mile. But, on debut, she was off the pace after breaking out, but nonetheless rallied into contention and finished a credible second. It's enough to suggest that she isn't completely out of contention if Manny Franco tries to give her a tactical ride behind Interstatelovesong and Current Yield, both of whom are stretching out from sprints and likely to ding-dong duel on the front end.

Race 4: Tom Fool (G3), six furlongs on the dirt - One Nine Hundred, Breslau

FanDuel odds: 4-5 and 10-1

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In a field where several of the top contenders aren't coming in on their best form, including last year's winner, Full Moon Madness, this looks like a good place to back a promising new face. That horse is the cleverly-named One Nine Hundred (4-5), by Dialed In out of Hedonism, who cleared his second-level allowance condition in his last start, a race over the same course and distance as the Tom Fool. Though he was off the board in his previous stakes try, the Chick Lang last year, that was his first try against winners, and this time the Thomas Morley trainee has a little more age and seasoning.

Breslau (10-1) is a seven-year-old and a ten-time winner, but a new face at this level—this is his first stakes race of any sort. It's the right time to do it, as he wired a starter-optional claimer over course and distance last out. With some other speed in the race, though, it's a positive that he also has the ability to stalk and pounce instead. In fact, that's his more common style. Nine of his ten wins have come at six furlongs, he can string multiple good races together, and one of his better efforts can be his breakthrough.

Race 8: Stymie Stakes, one mile on the dirt - Yo Daddy, Komorebino Omoide

FanDuel odds: 5-1 and 7-2

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The field of the Stymie is interesting: it's a one-turn mile that shapes as a showdown between better-known two-turn horses and more under-the-radar types who are old hands at this kind of trip. Morning-line chalk Phileas Fogg is the class of the field, and the removal of blinkers is a positive move, but all that classy form comes going longer than this, making him beatable in this spot.

The last couple of starts for Yo Daddy (5-1) have been longer than this, but look back to his form through the fall and winter a year ago, and he did well going the one-turn mile at the Big A. He did disappoint when trying the Stymie last year, but his form before that features several races that would make him competitive in this year's Stymie. And, his tactical versatility is a plus: he can battle up front if he wants, but can also run a winning race from several lengths back, a positive with the speedy likes of Ridgewood Runner, Phileas Fogg, and possibly Komorebino Omoide in the field. In short, this Linda Rice trainee can work a trip at a price.

Komorebino Omoide (7-2) has somewhat muddled form, just because of the distances and surfaces that he has tried. He has mostly run longer than this, but cutting back to six furlongs for a stakes at Fair Grounds, he showed enough zip to be forward—and in some of his other races last year, he was able to shift gears and settle a few lengths off the pace behind the fast fractions. In short, he's just that versatile. This listed-stakes level is the sweet spot for this son of California Chrome. And, despite the shift to the barn of Rob Atras, he will be ridden by Ramon Vazquez, who rode him often for previous trainer Robertino Diodoro.

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