Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Math Wizard may try Pegasus
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Math Wizard did little more than work an easy three furlongs in 36.20 seconds Sunday morning at Gulfstream Park, his first recorded breeze since finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The big news came later that afternoon when trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. confirmed the winner of the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby could make his next start in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 25.
“After talking with John” – part owner John Fanelli – “it’s been decided that the Pegasus is in play a little bit,” Joseph said. “Obviously, our main target is the Saudi Cup. But the Pegasus is here at home, it gives us an opportunity to get a race into him before Saudi, and still give us plenty of time to get him ready for the next one. If all the big horses don’t show up, why not?”
The purse for the Pegasus World Cup has been reduced from $9 million to $3 million this year, but there is no fee to enter as has been the case in past renewals of the event.
Math Wizard ended his 3-year-old campaign with earnings of more than $1 million. Not bad for a horse who won his maiden under a $16,000 claiming tag to open the year here in January.
“I thought he worked well this morning, the last quarter in 23 and change,” Joseph said. “He’ll go an easy half-mile next week, then have a more serious one after that.”
Math Wizard was one of several stars from the potent Joseph barn to work Sunday along with his two top 2-yearolds, Chance It and Tonalist’s Shape.
Chance It got in his final major prep for the upcoming Mucho Macho Man Stakes on Jan. 4, going a solo five furlongs in 58.58, completing the final quarter in 23.53 while traveling easily into a stiff headwind down the stretch. He galloped out six panels in 1:11.97.
Chance It has not started since registering an easy 7 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality on Sept. 28. He missed two scheduled starts since that outing, the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs due to a minor illness and a second last week due to quarantine restrictions at Remington Park.
“I wanted to get a stiff work into him this morning, and he went really well,” Joseph said. “He’s had a long break. That’s why I wanted to put in a real serious move today. It’s not like having a race, but we need to have him fit enough to do what he needs to do. We are where we want to be with him right now.”
Tonalist’s Shape breezed three-eighths in 35.54, completing her final quarter in 23.14 into the strong wind before easing up a half-mile in 48.82. Tonalist’s Shape is perfect in three starts and coming off a nine-length triumph in the onemile Hut Hut on Nov. 30.
“She got a little break after her last race,” Joseph said. “The tentative plan is to aim for the [Forward Gal] on Feb. 1. I know that means cutting back in distance, but the race is at home and a starting point through the rest of the series.”
The Grade 3 Forward Gal, at seven furlongs, is the first of three graded stakes for 3-yearold fillies here this winter. The series includes the Grade 2 Davona Dale at one mile on Feb. 29 and the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks at 1 1/16 miles on March 28.
X Y Jet, Imperial Hint okay
Trainer Jorge Navarro reports X Y Jet came out of Saturday’s Grade 3 Mr. Prospector tired but in good order and will remain on a path that will hopefully get him back to Dubai to defend his title in the Golden Shaheen later this spring.
X Y Jet set a lively pace before easing to the wire more than 20 lengths behind the winner, Diamond Oops, in the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector while making his first start since winning the 2019 Golden Shaheen nine months earlier.
“Twenty-one, 43, 1:08, that’s it,” was Navarro’s initial reaction when asked how X Y Jet was doing the day after the race. “I was upset going that fast, but he cooled out well and today he’s perfect. We always X-ray after every race, and everything’s good. That’s what we needed for him. Right now, the plan is still to bring him back in the Sunshine Millions.”
The six-furlong Sunshine Millions Sprint will be run here Jan. 18.
Trainer Luis Carvajal reported Monday that all also is well with Imperial Hint following his disappointing thirdplace finish as the odds-on favorite in the Mr. Prospector. Imperial Hint was making his first start since posting Grade 1 victories in the Alfred Vanderbilt at Saratoga and Vosburgh at Belmont Park earlier this year. Imperial Hint finished third behind X Y Jet in the 2019 Golden Shaheen.
“It was a little too far, that was it,” Carvajal said of the sevenfurlong Mr. Prospector. “You could see he was struggling a bit at the end. His best distance is six furlongs. But this should set him up good, hopefully, for Saudi.”
Carvajal was referring to the $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint on Feb. 29.
Jo Jo Air makes return
Jo Jo Air will likely vie for favoritism with Guacamole in the richest of two allowance races on Thursday’s card when racing resumes locally following the three-day Christmas break.
Jo Jo Air has been away since finishing second in the The Very One Stakes at Pimlico on May 18. Guacamole, graded stakes placed at 2 on the dirt, also is returning from an extended vacation, having been idle since March.
The $48,000 main event, scheduled for five furlongs on the turf, is the second leg in a Rainbow 6 sequence that begins with a carryover of $874,461.
◗ Edgard Zayas will return to the saddle Thursday for the first time since suffering a broken index finger on his left hand in a gate mishap at Gulfstream Park West five weeks ago. Zayas missed the final three months of the 2018-19 Championship meet due to a fractured femur but returned to win 167 races this season prior to his latest setback.
Zayas is named on five mounts on Thursday’s program, including aboard Kahramani for Saffie Joseph Jr. in the co-featured ninth race.