Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
GULFSTREAM Maximus Mischief looking good
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Maximus Mischief hasn’t had a published workout since his arrival here earlier this month. But you wouldn’t know it from watching him train in the morning.
Maximus Mischief shipped to Gulfstream Park shortly after his 2 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct on Dec. 1. The undefeated son of Into Mischief is among the top Kentucky Derby hopefuls stabled in south Florida, and he certainly has looked the part during his daily gallops, which more usually end with a strong gallop down the stretch, often at better than a twominute lick.
“We really wanted to go a little easier with him when we first got down here, but he just doesn’t want to hear about it,” said trainer Butch Reid Jr. “He gallops a strong mile and onehalf to a mile and five-eighths every day. And when he turns into the stretch the second time around and switches leads, he likes to get a little blowout in because he knows where the money is at the finish line.”
Reid said he couldn’t be happier with the way Maximus Mischief has settled in locally and how he’s progressed since the Remsen in preparation for his 3-year-old debut, scheduled to come in the Grade 2 Holy Bull on Feb. 2.
“He’s acclimated really well to both the weather and the racetrack,” said Reid. “The surface here is a lot different than ours at Parx. It’s really deep up there. It was a little on the deep side when we first got here, but still nothing like it is back home, and it’s gotten progressively faster the past week or so. You can hear his feet rattling out there now.”
Reid said if all goes according to plan, Maximus Mischief will have the first of his three scheduled local breezes prior to the Holy Bull on the weekend of Jan. 12, with his regular rider, Frankie Pennington, likely to fly down for his second and most important work the following week.
“This has been such a great experience for me and my wife, Ginny,” said Reid, who brought two other young horses down to Gulf stream, including Splice the main brace, whom he plans to run in the restricted Limehouse Stakes on Jan. 5. “An opportunity with a young and such a talented horse as this doesn’t come along too often, and I’m certainly grateful to the owners for having given me this chance.”
Maximus Mischief is owned by Cash Is King Stable and LC Racing.
Illudere stretching out
A field of 11 turf specialists was drawn for Sunday’s $47,000 optional-claiming feature, carded as race 10 and at 1 3/16 miles on the turf.
The steadily improving 3-year-old Illudere will likely be favored off a corking turf debut going a mile last month at Aqueduct when beaten a nose by the more experienced Flyoff following a grueling stretch duel. Illudere, a son of Ghostzapper trained by Jimmy Jerkens, earned a career-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure. He will stretch out beyond a mile for the first time on Sunday.
Bern’ James Bern and The Green Mo’ster, first and second under similar conditions going nine furlongs here earlier in the meet, loom the chief contenders, along with Hierarchy and Blue Harbor.
◗ Edgard Zayas notched his 200th victory of the season when he slipped Elizabeth’s Vow up the rail to upset Friday’s first race. Zayas sits fourth in the jockey standings 3 1/2 weeks into the 2018-19 championship meeting while fresh off winning the Gulfstream Park West riding title during the fall.
◗ The Rainbow 6 jackpot was hit Wednesday to the tune of a $288,350 payoff. The winning ticket was purchased through TVG, according to the mutuel department, at a cost of only $9.60, although it was not revealed whether it was purchased in conjunction with a larger batch of tickets.
◗ Jockey Jorge Urdaneta won his first race in the U.S. when he guided Magnato Go to a surprising wire-to-wire victory in Thursday’s fourth race. Magnato Go paid $101.20. Urdaneta, 37, had ridden 13 races here and at Tampa Bay Downs since his arrival in the U.S.