Lord Miles, Prairie Hawk return

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.’s initial reaction when asked to comment on the return of Lord Miles and Prairie Hawk was, “It’s time to get them back started.”

Lord Miles and Prairie Hawk, who were on the 2023 Kentucky Derby trail this time a year ago, will launch their 4-year-old campaigns simultaneously in Saturday’s $62,000 main event at Gulfstream. The seven-furlong dash for 3-yearolds and up lured a field of 10 that includes Shaq Diesel, who also was considered a potential Derby prospect a year ago.

Lord Miles gained instant notoriety upsetting the 2023 Wood Memorial at odds of 59-1. He ultimately was scratched out of the Kentucky Derby following the deaths of two of his stablemates a week before the race. Joseph was found blameless for the situation later that spring.

Lord Miles ran three times after the Wood, his best finish a late-striding second behind Damon’s Mound in Charles Town’s Robert Hilton Memorial on Aug. 25.

“He got colic back at Saratoga after the Charles Town race and needed a little procedure,” Joseph said when asked why Lord Miles’s 3-year-old campaign came to a premature end. “He’s training well, but seven-eighths may be on the short side for him. He was a horse who never really was striding into the bridle last year, so hopefully he will have matured in that aspect coming into his 4-year-old season.

“There looks like a lot of pace in here, which should help him, and it will be interesting to see how far he falls back during the early stages.”

Prairie Hawk finished fourth, beaten less than five lengths, in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby before also ending his 2023 campaign prematurely with a sixth-place finish in the Grade 3 Lexington.

“He went back to WinStar after the Lexington with some little issues and they gelded him while he was there,” Joseph said. “Then he developed a couple of other small things that kept him away from the races a second time.

“He’s doing well training for his return, although I think both he and Lord Miles might need a race. We’ll start them back Saturday and see where we’re at and I’m optimistic we can have a big year with both.”

Shaq Diesel finished far back in both the Grade 2 Risen Star and Grade 1 Florida Derby last season but showed marked improvement after being transferred to trainer David Fawkes last fall, winning a statebred stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and an allowance race locally to close out his 3-yearold season and kick off 2024. A late-running sort, he too should benefit from what projects to be a hotly contested pace Saturday.

The speed figures to come from Vivir Con Alegria, River Dog, and perhaps both X Y Point and a freshened Gatsby, who also enters the race off an extended vacation.

Vivir Con Alegria turned in a strong effort without the lead when finishing fourth in the Sir Shackleton in his most recent start. Four weeks earlier, he set the pace before giving way late to the odds-on Kingsbarns when finishing a solid second under allowance conditions.

Gatsby has been idle since winning a similarly conditioned allowance and high-priced optional claimer with a 95 Beyer Speed Figure here nearly a year ago under the tutelage of Carlos David. He has since returned to the barn of his original trainer, Juan Alvarado, and is working forwardly for his return.

Great Navigator dropped out of graded stakes company to prove a popular allowance winner here March 10, his best effort since finishing third in the Grade 2 Vosburgh last fall at Aqueduct.