OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After splitting their first two meetings this season at 1 1/16 miles, Domestic Product and Hades will shorten to a mile for their rubber match Saturday at Aqueduct in the Grade 3, $200,000 Dwyer Stakes. The two likely favorites won’t have much company when they load into the starting gate for the afternoon’s second race, with only Billal and Save the Trees set to join them for the 3-year-old fixture that will be decided at Aqueduct for just the fourth time in its long and storied history. Hades won the first meeting between the two foes when registering a two-length decision over Domestic Product in the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Feb. 3 at Gulfstream Park. They met again just three weeks ago at Monmouth Park in the Pegasus Stakes, with Domestic Product finishing second, 6 3/4 lengths behind runaway winner Tuscan Sky, but a comfortable 4 1/2 lengths in front of Hades, who was a distant third. Domestic Product sandwiched a 13th-place finish after a compromising trip in the Kentucky Derby between his two encounters with Hades, and he found himself in perhaps an even more precarious position during the early stages of the Pegasus. He was trapped four wide and in relatively tight quarters between Hades to his inside and Sea Streak outside exiting the first turn and down the backstretch, yet he was still able to fight on willingly to be clearly second best while no match for the rail-skimming winner. “Obviously, the race didn’t unfold like we wanted,” said Chad Brown who trains the Klaravich Stable homebred Domestic Product. “But he ran well. You never want to finish second by that far, but the winner was very impressive and our horse just never had a settled moment after getting pinched in by the outside horse. For him to kick on and still finish second, it showed he just didn’t quit.” :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Brown said he had not originally planned on running Domestic Product in the Dwyer, although he was looking to cut him back to one turn for his next start. “I really didn’t expect to wheel him back on such short rest, but I did want to try him around one turn and it’s a long wait for a race like the Allen Jerkens” at seven furlongs, Brown explained. “I had General Partner for this race. He had a minor setback, so it opened up a spot” As for his recent rivalry with Hades, Brown was hopeful meeting again outside of the Hades’s home track of Gulfstream Park would be to his horse’s advantage, just as it turned out to be in the Pegasus. “He beat us at Gulfstream Park, but that can be a tricky track and I don’t really think it worked in my horse’s favor,” Brown said. “We’ll see how Aqueduct fares for him.” :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports Hades started twice with little success between his victory in the Holy Bull and recent effort in the Pegasus, finishing far back in both the Grade 1 Florida Derby and Grade 3 Lexington. Trainer Joe Orseno equipped Hades, who also was caught in a tough position between runners dueling for the early lead in the Pegasus, with blinkers for his two most recent starts but will remove the equipment for the Dwyer. Billal comes into the race having earned the highest Beyer Speed Figure in the very compact lineup, a 93 for his third-place finish against older horses going 6 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga on the June 8 Belmont Stakes undercard. The big question mark is his ability to handle the added distance as he has yet to win beyond seven furlongs, although he was third traveling a mile here as a 2-year-old in the Nashua. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.