Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Maker enters 10 horses in three Saturday stakes
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Hopefully, Christmas Day will be a quiet one for trainer Mike Maker, who’ll need his rest before coming over here the following afternoon to saddle 10 horses in the three stakes races that highlight Saturday’s card, including four each in the Tropical Park Derby and Allen Jerkens.
Maker, second in the trainer standings as of Wednesday with nine wins, three behind Todd Pletcher, entered Fancy Liquor, Don Juan Kitten, Me and Mr. C, and Angelus Warrior in the 1 1/16-mile Tropical Park Derby. His four in the two-mile Allen Jerkens are Hieroglyphics, Conviction Trade, Treasure Trove, and Dante’s Fire, with the graded stakes winner Stunning Sky and Ask Bailey set for the 1 1/16-mile Tropical Park Oaks. The three stakes are worth $75,000 apiece and are scheduled for turf.
“Right now, I plan to run them all,” Maker said. “I’ve got two assistants, Nolan Ramsey and Lazaro Barrera, to help me saddle. In the races we have four entered, I’ll start at one end, they’ll start at the other, and we’ll meet in the middle.”
Fancy Liquor is the most highly regarded of Maker’s quartet in the Tropical Derby, having come from nearly a dozen lengths behind for a halflength tally over Taishan in the Grade 2 American Turf on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs. Fancy Liquor had set or pressed the pace in all five of his previous starts and again when finishing a game second despite, surprisingly, getting into a pace duel with his graded stakes-placed stablemate Don Juan Kitten in the Bryan Station Stakes last month at Keeneland.
Maker acknowledged that what he was thinking when watching Fancy Liquor and
Don Juan Kitten going head to head down the backstretch in the Bryan Station “wasn’t fit for print,” and said he’ll obviously have a different strategy in mind when the pair meet again in the Tropical Derby.
“Fancy Liquor showed he has matured and can do pretty much what you want with him the way he won the American Turf, so we’ll look to ease him back off the pace again this time,” Maker said.
Like everyone else, Maker will be heading into uncharted waters when it comes to stretching his four horses out to two miles for the first time in the Allen Jerkens.
“You never know what to expect going two miles, although I don’t think Treasure Trove or Conviction Trade have distance limitations,” Maker said. “It might be a little stretch for Dante’s Fire, being a 3-yearold against older horses, but I always thought he wanted more distance and I felt he ran very creditably when we sent him a mile and three-eighths for the first time in his last start.”
Gaffalione climbs standings
Tyler Gaffalione, who will be aboard Fancy Liquor in the Tropical Derby and Treasure Trove in the Allen Jerkens here on Saturday, was the riding star last weekend, posting four wins on Saturday and three Sunday. Among those seven victories was a superb effort with Sleepy Eyes Todd to register a halflength decision over the favored Firenze Fire in Saturday’s Grade 3 Mr. Prospector.
Gaffalione moved into sole possession of fourth place in the jockey standings. His 18 wins entering Christmas week put him five behind leader Luis Saez.
Sunday’s card also featured another sterling performance by a regally bred Todd Pletchertrained first-time starter. Zaajel, a Shadwell Stable homebred 2-year-old daughter of Street Sense, drew away to a 7 1/2-length victory over stablemate Unbridled d’Oro, and received a 75 Beyer Speed Figure.
Zaajel’s impressive effort follows on the heels of debut victories for Pletcher by the 2-year-old Quality Road colt Prime Factor, who won by 8 3/4 lengths on Dec. 12, and Shadwell’s 3-year-old Ardham, a son of Union Rags, who drew away to an eight length win here last Wednesday.
Speaking of Zaajel, Pletcher said: “She’d been training forwardly. Seven furlongs is a good starting point for her, although she’s clearly a filly that wants more distance.”
Pletcher has feature contenders
Pletcher wields a strong hand in the two allowance events on Wednesday’s card, with Abilene Trail among the key contenders in the eighth race, for fillies and mares going one mile on the main track, and Shamrocket the potential favorite facing nine other Florida-breds in the ninth race, carded at one mile on the grass.
Abilene Trail was fractious in the gate then set a contested pace before tiring to finish far back under similar conditions in her last start. She returned from a 14-month layoff to win her maiden going seven furlongs 26 days earlier at Gulfstream Park West.
Recoded, a popular item at the claim box at the Churchill Downs meet and currently sporting a two-race winning streak, could prove the one to beat in the eighth race.
Shamrocket, third in the Dueling Grounds Derby at Kentucky Downs while with trainer Christophe Clement in his last start, is one of only two 3-year-olds in the ninth race. The field includes stakes winner Kroy and the well-traveled My Point Exactly.