Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Bodexpress trying to earn way back to stakes company
MIAMI – After no longer having the dubious distinction of being known as the most accomplished 3-year-old maiden in the country, Bodexpress will quietly attempt to earn his way back to stakes competition with a victory over a solid field of allowance rivals in Wednesday’s $45,000 headliner at Gulfstream Park West.
The feature goes as the seventh event on an eight-race card and serves as the penultimate leg in a Rainbow 6 sequence that will begin with a carryover of $909,175.
Bodexpress finished a narrowly beaten second behind Shancelot, recent runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, in a maiden race last winter at Gulfstream Park. Six weeks later he was second to Maximum Security in the Grade 1 Florida Derby, which served as a springboard to his participation in the first two legs of this year’s Triple Crown.
After getting the summer off following an eventful Preakness, when he reared up and lost jockey John Velazquez at the break, Bodexpress returned against maiden competition to finally earn his diploma in rather handy fashion here on Oct. 14. But the waters will get a lot deeper Wednesday when he meets a lineup that includes the gradedstakes-tested Moretti, recent allowance winner Gump, and the more seasoned five-time winner Postino’s Vow.
“The horse is doing very well and we’re going step by step with him,” said Gustavo Delgado Jr., the son and assistant of trainer Gustavo Delgado. “If he runs well, we might aim to run him in the Harlan’s Holiday.”
The Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday is considered a prep for the $9 million Pegasus World Cup and will be run at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 14.
Bodexpress is one of two horses from the Delgado barn entered in the Wednesday race, along with the lightly raced two-turn maiden winner Quality Special.
Moretti has not started since finishing sixth after encountering trouble at the break of the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct on Feb. 2. The son of Medaglia d’Oro was an impressive 3 1/4-length allowance winner going 1 1/8 miles over the same track in his 2-year-old finale six weeks earlier.
“He wasn’t moving great after the Withers, and didn’t run well enough to see him in a spot on the Triple Crown trail, so we just decided to stop on him and give him some time off,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “He’s a big colt, and one we always felt would improve with age. He’s never been a real flashy work horse, but he’s training well and it’s time to get him started.”
Pletcher said the race came up a little tougher than he might have expected.
“We sort of landed in an interesting spot,” said Pletcher. “I knew Bodexpress had broken his maiden and I didn’t know exactly what direction they were heading, but I’m not completely shocked to see him in there. And there are a couple of other quality horses in the field as well. Hopefully, [Moretti] will run well and we can use the race as a building block for down the road.”
Gump owns the highest Beyer Speed Figure of any member of the field, a 91 he posted here just 19 days ago when rallying from just off the pace to capture a statebred allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs. Trained by Stanley Gold, the Arindel homebred is a bit of a question mark going the one-mile distance, but does figure to be forwardly placed from the outset breaking from the rail.
Postino’s View, one of two 5-year-olds in the race along with Malibu Music, is equally at home on turf and dirt. He returned to the main track to register a 1 3/4-length victory going a mile at Monmouth Park on Sept. 21, when claimed for $12,500 by his present connections.
◗ Wednesday’s card kicks off the final week of the Gulfstream Park West session, which ends Sunday with a mandatory payout of the entire Rainbow 6 pool. The Rainbow 6 has not been hit during the opening 35 days of the meet, which began on Oct. 2.
◗ Jockey Rajiv Maragh has moved his tack from New York to sSouth Florida and begins riding locally on a regular basis starting with Wednesday’s card. Maragh has registered one victory from seven mounts during the current meet.
◗ Jockey Jaime Rendon was the star on Sunday’s card, posting three victories, including an upset aboard first-time starter Lavi for trainer Emmy Gaffney in the second race. Lavi, a 2-year-old daughter of Orb, paid $94.60.