Diamond King transferred to John Servis, sent to Florida

Following a partial sale, the promising 3-year-old Diamond King has been transferred to trainer John Servis and sent to the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida.

A son of Quality Road, Diamond King was purchased last May for $235,000 by Chuck Zacney and Glenn Bennett at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale at Timonium. He has since been based at Parx Racing with trainer Butch Reid Jr.

Diamond King scored an impressive victory in the $100,000 Heft Stakes at Laurel Park on Dec. 30. He vied for the lead in the seven-furlong race, disposed of his pace setting rival, but then was passed in upper stretch. He came back gamely under jockey Frankie Pennington to win by 1 1/2 lengths.

The victory improved Diamond King’s record to three wins from four starts. In his only loss, Diamond King clipped heels entering the first turn of the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs, unseating Pennington.

Since the Heft Stakes, the DJ Stable of Leonard Green and his family have bought into Diamond King and requested he be sent to Servis, with whom they have other horses. Servis and Zacney also race together and had great success in 2016 with Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia.

“After the last race, Chuck was having a lot of interest to sell the horse,” Servis said of Diamond King. “He was interested in selling but wanted to stay in for a piece. A West Coast group wanted the whole horse.

“Clients of mine got word about what was going on and bought in.”

Servis breezed Diamond King for the first time Wednesday. Irad Ortiz Jr. was aboard for the five-furlong work that was timed in 1:01.20.

“We’ve nominated him to the Holy Bull, but it’s too soon to say where he’ll run next,” Servis said. “I’ve only had him a short time. He’s not a very big horse but he’s healthy and he trains well.”

The Grade 2, $350,000 Holy Bull, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds, will be held at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 3.

Trainer John Scanlan dies at 68

After 40 years as a trainer, John Scanlan retired from the game in 2014, and his death on Jan. 8 in Philadelphia went largely unnoticed.

Scanlan, who was 68, battled health issues in recent years. He won won 766 races during his career but is best remembered as the trainer of Toccet, runnerup in the Eclipse Award voting for champion 2-year-old male in 2002, and for his long association with the brash, outspoken owner Daniel Borislow.

Toccet won 6 of 8 starts in 2002 for Borislow and Scanlan, including the Grade 1 Champagne, Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity, Grade 2 Remsen, and Grade 3 Laurel Futurity.

He finished second in the Eclipse Awards voting to Vindication, who went a perfect 4 for 4 and won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Arlington Park. Toccet finished ninth in the BC Juvenile after breaking from the outside post in a 13-horse field.

Toccet followed up the BC Juvenile with victories in the Remsen, Laurel Futurity, and Hollywood Futurity, but Vindication had already wrapped up the title.

Scanlan was based at Laurel Park during Toccet’s juvenile season but spent most of his career at Philadelphia Park, which was renamed Parx Racing in 2010. He raced throughout the Mid-Atlantic, mostly in Maryland and at the New Jersey tracks of Monmouth Park and Garden State Park.

Borislow, who made a fortune in the telecommunications industry while in his early 30s, teamed with Scanlan in 1991, and the two raced horses together until Borislow’s death from a heart attack in July 2014. In addition to Toccet, their better horses included Talk Is Money, who was eased while making his final career start in the 2001 Kentucky Derby, and the multiple stakes winners Champagne Royal and Dinner In Rio.

Borislow never shied from the spotlight. He is famous for taking out a series of ads in the Daily Racing Form challenging the connections of Vindication to run against Toccet in the Hollywood Futurity while lobbying for the Eclipse Award.

A huge gambler, he stunned the racing world in May 2014 by hitting the Rainbow 6 at Gulfstream Park for $6.6 million on a $22,809 wager a day before the pool was to have attracted national attention by being distributed on a mandatory payout basis.

Two months later, Borislow died of a heart attack. Scanlan sent out his final starter at the Meadowlands in October of that year.

Scanlan is survived by his wife of 42 years, Lynn, and his sons John F. Jr. and Patrick. The family requests that any memorials in Scanlan’s name be made to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.

Fire Plug comes up tough

The $100,000 Fire Plug, one of two six-furlong stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday, has drawn a deep field of 12.

The Fire Plug and $100,000 What a Summer, which is for fillies and mares, are the local prep races for next month’s Grade 3, $250,000 General George and Grade 2, $300,000 Barbara Fritchie.

Trainer Lupe Preciado has entered Dave’s Friend winner Favorite Tale in the Fire Plug. Originally, there was supposed to be three weeks between the races, but following two weather-related cancellations Favorite Tale will be coming back on 12 days’ rest.

The field also has attracted the top two finishers from the Gravesend Stakes at Aqueduct, Do Share and Life in Shambles. Do Share, who is trained by Linda Rice, ran down the Steve Asmussen-trained Life in Shambles in the final sixteenth of the Gravesend to win by a half-length.

Someday Jones comes into the Fire Plug off a comeback win in a third-level optionalclaiming race at Parx for John Servis, and Something Awesome is undefeated in two starts since being transferred by Stronach Stable to Laurelbased horseman Jose Corrales.

In the What a Summer, Ms Locust Point will take on Angel At War, who is undefeated in six career starts.

Ms Locust Point, who is using the What a Summer as a prep race for the Fritchie, should go favored. Trained by Servis, she is 4 for 6 in her career and 2 for 2 since returning from a ninemonth layoff.

Angel At War will be making her stakes debut for trainer Michael Gorham, who claimed her for $40,000 out of her second start.

◗ Sagamore Farm and trainer Horacio De Paz had a banner holiday weekend at Laurel, winning with four of their six starters. Sagamore won maiden races Saturday and Sunday with Dictate Cool and Global Citizen, and claiming races on Monday with Proportionality and Annapolis Class.