Singing Bullet auditions for Pegasus World Cup

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A three-other-than optional-claiming race is not often thought of as a prep for a $16 million event like the Pegasus World Cup. But that could be the case for the steadily improving Singing Bullet, a homebred who just happens to be owned by the man who conceived the Pegasus World Cup, Frank Stronach.

Singing Bullet is one of only five horses who’ll contest Friday’s third race, which carries a $52,000 purse and will be decided at 1 1/16 miles. He’ll face a field that includes Rich Daddy, who hung a head defeat on Singing Bullet eight weeks earlier at Churchill Downs; Claiming Crown winner Flowers for Lisa; the graded stakesplaced Conquest Windycity; and hopelessly overmatched Joshua’s Comprise.

Singing Bullet was highly regarded at 2 but is only now starting to reach his full potential at the end of his 3-year-old campaign. The son of Hard Spun finished third going 6 1/2 furlongs in the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga and has continued to blossom after being stretched out to a mile and farther for his last three starts.

“We were expecting him to be a top horse at 2, but he lost a lot of time at the end of the season and earlier this year for a lot of different little issues,” trainer Dale Romans said. “And we still think that way, only it’s just now that those expectations are coming to fruition as he matures, and I really thought he finally put it all together for the first time in his last start.

Singing Bullet enters his 3-year-old finale off a 3 1/4-length optional-claiming victory over Conquest Windycity going a mile last month at Churchill Downs, for which he earned a career-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He had a tougher trip but really no excuse when Rich Daddy beat him the last time,” Romans said. “We’re just hoping to come back and turn the tables on him Friday.”

As for the Pegasus World Cup, Romans said a good performance here Friday could earn Singing Bullet a slot in the event on Jan. 27.

“I know he doesn’t have the credentials of a lot of those horses who’ll be in the race, but we’re a horse going up and maybe we can catch some of the others going down,” Romans said. “Strange things can happen in a race like that, as we know.”

Rich Daddy has started once since defeating Singing Bullet on Nov. 2, finishing second as the 5-2 favorite in the Claiming Crown Iron Horse here Dec. 2. Rich Daddy will compete under a $75,000 claiming tag Friday for trainer Eddie Kenneally.

Conquest Windycity was haltered for $62,500 by trainer Mike Maker out of his secondplace finish behind Singing Bullet on Nov. 26, a race in which he made a five-wide run into the stretch. Conquest Windycity finished third in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special with trainer Brendan Walsh earlier this season.

Friday’s outstanding 11-race program also will offer a similarly conditioned optionalclaiming test for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles on turf. The race drew a wellmatched field of eight that includes the multiple Grade 2 winner March, the Canadian stakes winner Final Copy, English Minister, and the intriguing Catcho En Die, a 5-year-old who has won all three of his starts, all in Argentina. Catcho En Die will make his U.S. debut for trainer Bill Mott.

March, idle since January, will be making his first start for trainer Jonathan Thomas. He won the Grade 2 Woody Stephens and Grade 3 Bay Shore with Chad Brown in 2015 at 3, and was second, beaten just a head, on turf later that season in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar.

Final Copy will be ridden by Jose Ortiz, who will be accepting his first mount since undergoing knee surgery. Ortiz has not ridden since Dec. 3 at Aqueduct. Ortiz is scheduled to ride here throughout the winter.

A stakes for long-winded set

As good as Friday’s card is, Saturday’s is even better, with five turf stakes on the docket, led by the two-mile H. Allen Jerkens. The Jerkens lured a field of eight, topped by the Grade 1 Canadian International winner Bullards Alley; California invader Infobedad, runner-up in the Grade 2 Marathon at Del Mar on Breeders’ Cup weekend; and the Shug McGaughey-trained and ever-improving Gold Shield.

The other stakes on the card are the $75,000 Tropical Park Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, which split into two divisions; the $75,000 Via Borghese for fillies and mares; and the $75,000 Tropical Park Derby for 3-year-olds.

Post time both Friday and Saturday is noon Eastern.

Dak Attack coming back

Romans said he plans to unveil the first of his talented 3-year-olds of 2018 when he sends out the unbeaten Dak Attack in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man here Jan. 6. Dak Attack has not started since closing his 2-year-old campaign with an easy victory in the Ellis Park Juvenile on Aug. 20.

“We’ll run Dak Attack in the first one and then figure out what to do with the others,” Romans said.

Romans’s other Kentucky Derby hopefuls includes Tiz Mischief and Promises Fulfilled, who finished second and third in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs, and Hollywood Star and Free Drop Billy, sixth and ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Romans suffered a heartbreaking defeat Tuesday when J Boys Echo was beaten a nose by Jay’s Way as the evenmoney favorite in an optionalclaiming race. J Boys Echo has now run second in both starts since finishing far back in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.

New Florida Sire Stakes

The Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association announced Wednesday it will be sponsoring a new Florida Sire Stakes race, the $150,000 Wildcat Heir. The race is for FSS-eligible 3-yearolds and up and will be run at a mile on the dirt Sept. 29 at Gulfstream Park.

The Wildcat Heir will be run on the final day of the summer meet on a card that is highlighted by the final legs of the Florida Sire Stakes for 2-yearolds – the $400,000 In Reality and $400,000 My Dear Girl for fillies.

The Florida breeders’ group also is offering a new $100,000 bonus for any FSS-eligible horse who wins the $1 million Florida Derby, as well as bonuses for any FSS-eligible horse who wins the Carry Back or Azalea stakes.