IS ON THE TRADE RUMOR TRAIL
Nicanor suddenly has more in common with his older brother, Barbaro: a dominating win.
Nicanor broke his maiden in a romp, a 15 1/4-length victory on the turf at Delaware Park - the same track where Barbaro won his first career race.
A day after the win, co-owner Gretchen Jackson was relieved Barbaro's baby brother was finally able to bust into the winner's circle.
"One of my thoughts was, he better do it this time," Jackson said yesterday. "He'd been so close. The result was very pleasing. It looks like we might have a horse that might have some talent."
Nicanor's connections are the same team that were behind Barbaro 3 years ago: He's owned by Gretchen and Roy Jackson, and trained by Michael Matz.
He had fallen short of breaking his maiden in his first three races so Matz decided to shake things up by putting blinkers on the colt. That appeared to focus the promising colt and he won the 1 1-16-mile race in 1 minute, 46.31 seconds.
Barbaro, the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner, shattered his right hind leg in the 2006 Preakness only a few strides into the race, ending his career and starting an 8-month fight for his life, but was euthanized in 2007.
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* Former Duke point guard Greg Paulus will enroll in graduate school at Syracuse and try to make a comeback in football at quarterback for the Orange.
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