Manchurian High ‘a cool dude’

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s hard not to root for Manchurian High in Saturday’s $150,000 Sunshine Millions Turf.

Not only is the 10-year-old Manchurian High the oldest horse in the field, he’s also a two-time winner of the event and seeks his third win in a unique manner – off a fivelength maiden victory over the hurdles in Charleston, S.C., two months earlier.

Manchurian High is owned and trained by Lilli Kurtinecz, who purchased the son of The Daddy privately at the end of his 2013 campaign. He’s since become like a member of the family for Kurtinecz, who brightens up and exudes affection for Manchurian High at the mere mention of his name.

“We just try to keep him happy and fit,” said Kurtinecz, who became a year-round resident at Palm Meadows for the first time this past season and has a dozen horses bedded down at the training facility. “He really didn’t like it here this summer. He hates the racetrack. He’s a farm horse. He likes to gallop up and down the hills and play out in the fields. That’s why I sent him home to some friends in Maryland and ran him over the hurdles. He’s such an athletic horse, it’s easy for him. And he was doing so well after he won his last start, I said why not take a shot and try to win this race for a third time.”

Manchurian High rallied from last to capture the 2015 Sunshine Millions Turf by 3 1/4 lengths. He returned a year later and followed a similar script, finishing full of run down the stretch to register a half-length decision over Reporting Star. He has made only eight starts since he won the Sunshine Millions Turf in January 2016, going winless in five tries on the flat with a win, a second, and a third in three starts over jumps during that period.

“We missed a chance to try for a third Sunshine Millions last year because I got hurt,” Kurtinecz said. “And I’m the only one who ever rides him here. He came back to me a week ago and is training awesome. He’s certainly fit enough, having won his last race at 2 1/4 miles under 154 pounds. Perhaps he has lost a step or two now – I don’t really know. We’ll see. But he owes me nothing, and either way he’ll go back north after this race, get kicked out on the farm for a while, and run over the hurdles again during the spring. And when his racing career is over, there’s a long list of people who want him for the horse shows, which he loves, too. He can really do it all. He’s just a cool dude.”

Fear the Cowboy to Pegasus

Fear the Cowboy, a 6-yearold horse who won two Grade 3 stakes races at Gulfstream Park last year, is being pointed to the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup as a starter in the slot co-owned by Gulfstream owner Frank Stronach, the track announced Wednesday.

Fear the Cowboy, who has never run in a Grade 1 stakes, is the 11th horse to be named as a potential starter in the Jan. 27 Pegasus, which is limited to 12 entries. The owners of the horse, Raffaele Centofanti and Kathleen Amaya, recently struck a deal to start the horse in the slot that Stronach and the brothers Ronald and Jerry Frankel own for the race, according to the track.

“I know this is a big challenge, but our horse is in the peak form of his career,” said Efren Loza Jr., the trainer of the horse. “He’s a horse who when you put him in with good competition he will work hard.”

The first five finishers in last year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic are all pointing to the Pegasus, which has a listed purse of $16 million (every horse that starts in the race is guaranteed to receive at least $650,000 in purse earnings). Gun Runner, winner of the Classic, is expected to be heavily favored in the race.

Only one slot in the Pegasus remains unfilled. The slot is owned by The Stronach Group, the company controlled by Frank Stronach that owns Gulfstream Park and administers the Pegasus World Cup. A number of horses are being considered for the slot, according to company officials.

Fear the Cowboy has a record of 9 wins from 27 starts, with earnings of $570,869. In his last start, he won the Dec. 16 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes at Gulfstream by 2 1/4 lengths.

‘Very special’ filly wins again

Heavenhasmynikki will run next in a stakes race after staying unbeaten by winning her second career start here Monday in a first-level allowance sprint.

Heavenhasmynikki is owned by the Loooch Racing Stable of Ron Paolucci and named for his daughter Nicole, who died in January 2016 at age 21.

“The filly means everything to me,” Paolucci said after Heavenhasmynikki came through a rail opening in earning a 75 Beyer Speed Figure in the six-furlong race. “We’ve got more than 100 horses, and she’s definitely in the top three. She’s very special.”

Paolucci said the timing of the Gulfstream series of stakes for 3-year-old fillies means he might wind up instructing trainer Anthony Quartarolo to send the Ohio-bred daughter of Majestic Warrior elsewhere for her next start. The sevenfurlong Forward Gal on Feb. 3 is next at Gulfstream, so either of a pair of two-turn races – the Feb. 10 Martha Washington at Oaklawn Park or the Feb. 17 Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds – might be next.

“She’s such a big-striding filly, she ought to love going longer,” Paolucci said.

Heavenhasmynikki, a $150,000 yearling purchase, was denied entry into the Breeders’ Cup in November as an unstarted maiden. Paolucci then made a production of her debut at Mahoning Valley on the Tuesday of Breeders’ Cup week (Oct. 31) when Javier Castellano was flown in to ride her to an easy victory as a huge favorite.

Ortiz escapes injury in spill

Jose Ortiz left the paddock aboard a mare named Zeven with a smile on his face prior to the ninth race Monday. And for good reason: Moments earlier, Ortiz had escaped injury despite having been thrown hard to the track when his mount, Double Cabernet, broke down at the top of the stretch.

“I am okay, thank God,” Ortiz said.

Two other jockeys, Carlos Jimenez and apprentice Aby Medina, also were dislodged from their mounts in the incident, and they, too, were uninjured.

Double Cabernet, trained by Peter Walder, had to be euthanized.

Ortiz, 24, is riding his first full Gulfstream meet. He will be in attendance at the Eclipse Awards dinner here next Thursday night (Jan. 25) as a finalist for outstanding jockey of 2017 after leading all riders in mount earnings with more than $27 million.

◗ Curlin’s Approval turned in her final serious prep for a defense of her title in the sevenfurlong Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie a week from Saturday, going an easy half-mile in company in 48.31 seconds here Wednesday with jockey Luis Saez aboard. Curlin’s Approval is coming off a second-place finish behind Lewis Bay going a mile in the Grade 3 Rampart on Dec. 16, her first start since finishing 13th in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.