“The race next week at Gulfstream is just coming up too quick for my liking. I don’t want to compromise him by running him back too quickly. He’s been off since June,” Motion said. “This will give me an opportunity to give him three more works, which is probably what he needs.”
Smart Bid lost by a nose to Teaks North in last year’s Gulfstream Turf. He followed up his near miss in the Gulfstream Turf with a victory in the Marvin Muniz Handicap (G2) at Fair Grounds, has been idle since September.
“He hasn’t been away as long as Animal Kingdom, so he’s a lot further along in his training,” Motion said.
Ever So Lucky Still on Course for Hutcheson
The $150,000 Hutcheson (G2) on Feb. 11 remains a strong possibility for Ever So Lucky’s 2012 debut after the Jonathan Sheppard-trained colt’s first workout at Gulfstream Park on Monday.
“We’ll see how he does during the week and how he works. He’s got one more work coming up,” said Sheppard Wednesday morning.
Ever So Lucky worked five furlongs in 59 1/5 seconds on Monday at Gulfstream.
“He came back fine and we’re happy with him,” his Hall of Fame trainer said.
Ever So Lucky raced twice last fall at Churchill Downs, where he broke his maiden by 3 ¼ lengths only two weeks before finishing second behind undefeated Geologist in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) on Nov. 26. The 3-year-old son of Indian Charlie was sent to Camden, S.C. to rehab for a bone bruise before shipping to Gulfstream in mid-January.
Sheppard expressed satisfaction with the Kentucky-bred colt’s training at Gulfstream.
“He’s trained well on synthetic and he trained well at Churchill on conventional dirt. He seems to handle this fine,” he said. “He seems to take things in stride. He’s very adaptable.”
Silver Menace Ready to Make a Fresh Start in Needles
Silver Menace, who finished a troubled sixth in the Gulfstream Park Derby on Jan. 1, breezed three furlongs in 36 seconds Wednesday morning in preparation for his turf debut in Saturday’s $60,000 Needles.
“I don’t think it will be a problem for him. Turf, dirt, synthetic, mud, I think he’ll run on anything,” trainer Kathy Ritvo said. “Some horses are just runners.”
Silver Menace won his debut by five lengths on the synthetic track at Arlington Park before winning an entry-level allowance by nearly four lengths over a muddy main track at Hawthorne.
The 3-year-old son of Silver Wagon, who raced as a ridgling in his third start on Gulfstream’s main track, has subsequently been gelded.
“He got in some trouble in the Gulfstream Derby and I only had him for a week,” said Ritvo, who took over the training of Silver Menace from James DiVito following Reeves Thoroughbred Racing’s private purchase in late December. “He looks like a better horse. Jim DiVito did a great job with him, but these babies start to mature at this time. We saw it last year with Macho.”
Ritvo saddled Mucho Macho Man for an impressive victory in the $400,000 Florida Sunshine Millions at Gulfstream Park last Saturday.
“We’ll give him some more time and then figure out where we’re going to run him,” said Ritvo of her 2011 Kentucky Derby third-place finisher.
Get Stormy Posts Sharp Drill for Gulfstream Turf
Sullimar Stable’s 6-year-old Kentucky homebred Get Stormy finished third beaten a length for it all by Teaks North in the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1) a year ago, and appears set to give the 1 1/8 miles turf test another try on Sat., Feb. 11 after working a sharp six furlongs on turf in 1:11 4/5 at Palm Meadows on Tuesday morning for trainer Tom Bush.
“Nothing is etched in stone, but we’ve been pointing him for the race and will probably start if all goes well,” said Bush Wednesday morning. “His poor races in the Breeders’ Cup (Mile) the last two years at Churchill (Downs) are still a mystery to me. I can’t blame it on the (turf) course although we know it’s a lot different in the fall than the spring. We’ll try to put that behind us and look forward to this season.”
A son of Stormy Atlantic, Get Stormy is a winner of more than $1.3 million with a 26-10-4-3 record and posted back-to-back Grade 1 victories last spring in the Maker’s Mark Mile (G1) at Keeneland and Turf Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs. The usually very consistent turf stakes star finished a game second, beaten a half-length by Gio Ponti in the Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland in his last start in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (12th) on Nov. 5.
Another probable contender for the Gulfstream Turf Handicap breezed at Gulfstream Wednesday morning as Lael Stable’s 5-year-old gelding Kindergarden Kid was timed a half-mile in 48 3/5 on the main track for trainer Barclay Tagg.
A son of Dynaformer, Kindergarden Kid finished a game fourth last out in the Fort Lauderdale Stakes (G3) over the course on Jan. 14, rallying from last of 12, beaten a length for it all by Little Mike and was placed third on a disqualification in his first start since winning the Pay the Butler Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 19.
