There appears to be a shiny future in retailer for 3-year-old Locked after his win within the Grade 2 $500,000 Cigar Mile Handicap introduced by Twinspires.com Dec. 7 at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The victory inevitably introduced ideas about what may have been. If not for an uncommon knee ligament concern that stored him away from the races for practically a 12 months, the Grade 1 winner at age 2 might need been a significant participant on this 12 months’s 3-year-old classics.
“It was unlucky timing as a result of the way in which a few of the Triple Crown races arrange this 12 months, it might have suited him very properly,” coach Todd Pletcher stated about Locked.
Whereas there could be disappointment connected to the previous, after beating older rivals and drawing off within the stretch to a 1 1/2-length win in a race as prestigious because the Cigar Mile, there’s the very satisfying comfort of getting horse anticipated to be a prime risk within the Grade 1 $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes introduced by Baccarat on Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park, or the Group 1 $20 million Saudi Cup Feb. 22 in Saudi Arabia.
“Proper now, we’re fascinated by the Pegasus however the $20 million is hanging on the market,” stated possession spokesperson Aron Wellman. “It is one thing we have now to maintain on our radar.”
Contemplating what occurred to Locked, simply getting him again to the races concerned tons of excellent fortune.
“I might be mendacity if I stated we weren’t devastated that we needed to take him off the Kentucky Derby path,” Wellman stated. “However trying again on the harm and the individuality of it, we really feel very lucky to be on this place to showcase him once more.
A winner of the Grade 1 2023 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at age 2, Locked, a son of Gun Runner, was third within the 2023 FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile introduced by TAA. Because of the knee harm, he didn’t race once more till he captured an Oct. 19 allowance optionally available claiming race at Aqueduct that satisfied his connections to level for the Cigar Mile.
Mullikin, exiting a third-place end as the favourite within the Cygames Breeders’ Cup Dash, surged to a short-lived lead in mid-stretch till jockey John Velazquez and Locked rallied from sixth and powered by him nearing the sixteenth pole. Locked prolonged Pletcher’s file variety of Cigar Mile wins to seven.
“I believe we have been lucky sufficient to have some wholesome horses right now of the 12 months and a few good milers to have the ability to run,” Pletcher stated.
For Velazquez, Locked, the 2-1 favourite ($6.30), gave him three victories in a row within the Cigar Mile and accounted for a record-matching fifth Cigar Mile win in his profession.
“It is unlucky that the Cigar isn’t a Grade 1 and I believe we would all agree in status it is a Grade 1 race and it was a Grade 1 discipline immediately with out query,” Wellman stated. “Hopefully, the powers that be will rethink and reinstate its Grade 1 standing.”
Mullikin completed second by a size over the rallying Publish Time who settled for third.
Jockey Flavien Prat, broadly anticipated to win an Eclipse Award for his driving achievements this 12 months, tied a stakes file set by Irad Ortiz Jr. in 2022 by profitable his 79th stakes race of the 12 months aboard Tizzy within the Sky for coach Todd Pletcher within the $200,000 Grade 3 Go for Wand Stakes.
An hour and a half later, Prat would take the file outright when Godolphin 2-year-old Poster narrowly received the Grade 2 $250,000 Remsen Stakes to offer Prat 80 stakes wins this 12 months. Fifty-five of the wins have come on the graded stage, tying Corridor of Famer Jerry Bailey’s graded stakes file set in 2003.
“It has been an incredible season and I am very grateful,” Prat stated of the record-setting triumph. “It means lots to me.” — Byron King
Godolphin’s Poster benefitted from an assertive journey by Prat to win his grime debut when capturing the $250,000 Grade 2 Remsen Stakes for 2-year-olds Dec. 7 at Aqueduct Racetrack.
For coach Eoin Harty, having a rider in a groove like Prat was a blessing as Poster rallied widest on the ultimate flip, grabbed the lead on the prime of the stretch, after which held off a late bid by Aviator Gui to win by a nostril.
As a qualifying race on the street to the 2025 Kentucky Derby introduced by Woodford Reserve, Poster picked up 10 factors in a race that has produced the winners of two Triple Crown races and the Longines Breeders’ Cup Basic in its earlier three editions. Simply final 12 months, the Remsen winner was Dornoch, who went on to seize the Belmont Stakes and the NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes. The runner-up by a nostril, Sierra Leone, prevailed within the Longines Breeders’ Cup Basic.
“If he can have the identical expertise because the horses who have been profitable on this race final 12 months, we will likely be very, very comfortable,” stated Michael Banahan, Godolphin USA’s director of bloodstock.
Poster got here into the Remsen undefeated in two begins, each on the turf, nevertheless it’s not stunning the connections opted to offer him a strive on grime earlier than the 12 months got here to an finish.
“Contemplating his pedigree, I do know the household’s ins and outs, I did not assume he’d have an issue with (grime) and I am glad to be confirmed proper,” Harty stated.
Now, Poster is within the Triple Crown combine with Godolphin stablemate East Avenue, who was the winner of Keeneland’s Grade 1 Claiboune Breeders’ Futurity and was favored within the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile introduced by TAA.
“When he received at Keeneland (Oct. 12 in his second begin), we determine to offer him a chance to see if he may add to our mixture of 3-year-olds on the grime,” Banahan stated. “This win offers us an incredible winter to dream about these horses. We’ll give you a plan to divide and conquer.”
Banahan stated East Avenue is at Honest Grounds with a possible goal of the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes.
Harty stated a return to New York for one of many 3-year-old Kentucky Derby preps is a risk for Poster.
Prat and Poster have been final within the discipline of six after the opening quarter-mile and because the leaders started to tire leaving the quarter pole, Poster swept previous them and grabbed a two-length lead in mid-stretch.
The lone risk to Poster got here Aviator Gui, who needed to anticipate room within the stretch then swung large and chewed into the lead whereas lugging in however fell a stride wanting reaching the entrance.
Poster ($11.60) lined the gap in 1:50.37 on a quick monitor.
The second- by means of fifth-place finishers earned Kentucky Derby qualifying factors on a 5-3-2-1 scale. Tux completed third, adopted by Studlydoright in fourth.
Aviator Gui, skilled by Chad Brown, picked up 5 qualifying factors for second. Brown, who additionally trains Remsen overwhelmed favourite Keewaydin, stated he had “no excuse for his fifth-place end.” — Bob Ehalt
Muhimma improved her file to 3-for-3 for coach Brad Cox when taking the $250,000 Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes for 2-year-old fillies Dec. 7 at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Cox has twice received the celebrated Longines Kentucky Oaks, first with Monomoy Lady in 2018 after which two years later with Shedaresthedevil in 2020. Now, with rather less than 5 months to go earlier than the 2025 Longines Kentucky Oaks, Cox seems properly positioned to doubtlessly win a 3rd. Moreover coaching Muhimma, Cox additionally trains the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and all-but-certain champion 2-year-old filly of 2024 Immersive, and Good Cheer, the winner of the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes.
“I am happy with what our crew has been capable of do with these horses and I am happy with the horses,” Cox stated. “We have been put in place with fillies which have responded and now our job is to show the web page on this 12 months and attempt to execute subsequent 12 months.”
Immersive and Good Cheer are first and second on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard with 40 and 20 factors, respectively, and Muhimma vaulted into the highest 10 by selecting up 10 factors with Saturday’s victory. The highest 5 Demoiselle finishers earned Oaks qualifying factors on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.
Although Muhimma had not raced in a stakes race or in a route earlier than the 1 1/8-mile Demoiselle, the general public anticipated her Demoiselle success, backing her to 2-5 favoritism. She lived as much as expectations, taking cost early underneath jockey Florent Geroux within the two-turn race from her inside put up, setting comfy fractions, after which warding off a stretch rally from late-running Ballerina d’Oro to hit the end line a size in entrance. She was timed in 1:49.84 for the gap and ran the closing eighth in :12.43. Muhimma returned $2.80 to win.
Liam within the Mud, who tracked the early tempo underneath Flavien Prat, completed third. 5 a Aspect was fourth, and Carmen’s Sweet Jar was fifth. — Byron King