Carter Handicap Betting Guide

The Carter Handicap is one of the races open to three-year-olds and older and is a Grade 1 affair. It is typically one of the most exciting races on the calendar, with gamblers likely to keep an eye on the winners of the race for the remainder of the season.

Event Details

The Carter Handicap takes place annually in April, with the horses involved racing over seven furlongs. This race is a Grade 1 and takes place at Aqueduct Racetrack. It has been a competitive race since being introduced in 1895 and takes place on a dirt surface.

Carter Handicap Predictions

The 2021 renewal of the Carter Handicap was a competitive race, with a number of illustrious runners involved. You can see the entries for the 2021 race below:

• Mischevious Alex

• Mind Control

• Souper Stonehenge

• Chateau

• Shoplifted

Mischevious Alex continued his excellent form this season with a second straight win in 2021. Since joining the Saffie Joseph Jr yard, the four-year-old has won on both starts. 

His first success under his new trainer came in the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes, as he held off competition from Frosted Grace and Cajun Brother to win comfortably in a time of 1:09.55. His win in the Carter Stakes was as impressive as he claimed a five and a half-length success over Mind Control.

Connections for Mind Control would have still taken an awful lot from the five-year-olds run, as the Carter Stakes was his first run since finishing third in the Grade 3 Prospector Stakes at Gulfstream Park back in December. However, the five-year-old is now without a win on the track since claiming the Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap in March 2020.

Souper Stonehenge finished back in third place and was six and a half lengths behind the eventual winner. It was a decent showing from the five-year-old on his third run this season, but he is still yet to win a race for trainer Mark Casse. The most likely scenario will see Souper Stonehenge challenge for a Grade 2 or Grade 3 in his next outing.

Chateau was one of the most interesting horses that lined up for the Carter Handicap, as he came into the renewal after an impressive viewing in the Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap at Aqueduct in early March. In that race, he held on to win by three and a half lengths from Wendell Fong. However, he didn’t have the class to compete in the Carter Handicap.

Shoplifted finished in fifth place in the race and was a massive 24 lengths behind Mischevious Alex. It wasn’t the return to the track after a 56-day break that Steven Asmussen would have been looking for. 

He finished second by a neck on his first start in 2021, as he was outlasted by Special Reserve in the Allowance Optional Claiming Race at Oaklawn Park in February. The horse looks like he could benefit from going up on a trip on his next run.

Carter Handicap Information

The Carter Handicap was formed in 1895 and has taken place at Belmont Park as well as Aqueduct in the past. The race was held most recently at Belmont Park last year. Last year it also took place in June rather than the typical April date due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The race’s most famous renewal came back in 1944, as there was a triple deal heat. Brownie, Bossuet, and Wait A Bit all crossed the line at the same time. 

However, there was another dead heat 33 years later. Despite being introduced in 1895, the race hasn’t taken place every year. There was no Carter Handicap on the racing calendar in 1909 and between the years of 1911-1913 and 1933 and 1934.

The Carter Handicap has been competed over seven furlongs since 1903, with the previous renewals before that date taking place over six and a half furlongs and 1 1/16 miles. Artax completed the race in the quickest time when he won in 1999, as he won the renewal in a time of 1:20.04. Six horses have achieved two victories, with the most recent horse to achieve the feat being Dads Caps in 2014 and 2015.

How to Bet on the Carter Handicap

The Carter Handicap is one of the most competitive races in the early part of the season, which makes it a popular betting race. These are some of the markets that you can make wagers on for the race.

• Win: Placing a wager on a horse to win the Carter Handicap is the most popular way to place a bet. The selected horse must cross the line first to get the returns.

• Exacta: Gamblers can place wagers on the Exacta market, but they must correctly predict the first two past the post to get returns.

• Trifecta: Bettors can instead gamble on the first three horses to cross the line in the correct order by making a wager on the Trifecta market.