Kentucky Derby 2019 Daily: Reid dreaming with Maximus Mischief

Welcome to Horse Racing Nation’s Kentucky Derby Daily, which will each day leading up to the May 4 race at Churchill Downs detail all the news and notes related to contenders in one convenient space.

Trainer Butch Reid saddled runners previously at Churchill Downs, and among his career highlights is a victory under the Twin Spires in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Marathon with Afleet Again. But Reid has never attended the track’s signature race.

“I’ve always said I wouldn’t until I had a horse in it,” said Reid, bit by the racing bug when watching Secretariat as a high schooler, "So hopefully this will be the year.”

That would make Maximus Mischief the horse.

An unbeaten son of Into Mischief, the Cash is King and LC Racing runner is on schedule to continue his run up to the 2019 Kentucky Derby, Reid said. This weekend will mark Maximus Mischief’s “most major work” toward the Grade 2, $350,000 Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 2 at Gulfstream Park.

“Florida seemed like, because my of experience down here, a logical place to go,” Reid said. “We had planned to have three breezes going up to the Holy Bull, which has been the target for our first race for some time now.”

Plans were laid after Maximus Mischief upped his record to 3-for-3 with a victory Dec. 1 in the Remsen Stakes (G1). Away quickly, he gained the lead after a quarter mile of running and cruised to a 2 1/4-length win under jockey Frankie Pennington.

Reid has for the last 10 or so years stabled at Pennsylvania’s Parx Racing, but in the 1990s and early 2000s the Philadelphia native based in the South. He remains a known name around Gulfstream, acquiring Eclipse Award-winning jockey Jose Ortiz for the Holy Bull.

“The horse dictates where you go with them,” Reid said. “Parx was a fine place to start — good program and purses. It’s a good proving ground for horses, and you can work your way up.”

A $340,000 auction purchase, Maximus Mischief notched a 98 Beyer Speed Figure in his Sept. 29 debut at Parx. He chased off all but two rivals for his second start on Oct. 20, when he won for fun again.

Reid said Maximus Mischief quickly separated himself — both in appearance and speed — from his Parx counterparts.

“A horse like him is hard to keep secret because he’s such a striking looking individual, and he’s always been a fast breezing horse,” the trainer said. “He caught a lot of peoples’ eyes.

“In his first two races, he never really had anyone around him. He’s a sharp-breaking horse. For  a big horse, he’s amazingly quick out of the gate.”

Reid expects Maximus Mischief to sit forwardly again in the Holy Bull, which the colt will enter as a likely favorite backing up to 1 1/16 miles from his nine-furlong Remsen win.

An allowance to eye

Could the best 3-year-old in Louisiana be running two days before the Lecomte Stakes (G3) rather than in Saturday’s Derby prep. We’ll find out at 3:23 p.m. ET Thursday when a group of six heads postward for Race 5 at Fair Grounds, an allowance optional claiming race at a mile and 70 yards.

The Top 3 choices all ran last on Dec. 22.

The 7-5 favorite Gun It, a $2.6 million purchase from Gun Runner’s family, broke his maiden despite running greenly in the stretch. Owendale, 2-1, battled Lecomte entrant Tackett to a neck defeat, with third place another 5 1/2 lengths back. And Cornacchia, who’s 3-1, overcame all sorts of trouble to get up in his debut for trainer Brad Cox.

Any of those three could be on to a race like the Risen Star (G2) with a nice showing.

Derby links

Trainer Kenny McPeek announced that Iroquois Stakes (G3) winner Cairo Cat “isn’t 100%,” and that a trip to Kentucky for inspection counts him out of the Derby trail. The son of Cairo Prince hasn’t started since his victory last September. 

Churchill Downs called upon DraftKings to suspend its wagering on the Kentucky Derby at a Mississippi casino, citing “legal precedent.” That’s most likely the Interstate Horseracing Act, as wagering on races isn’t currently legal in that state. The Vegas Stats & Information Network’s Ron Flatter has more. 

HRN’s Ashley Tamulonis and Laurie Ross renewed their “Head to Head” series by handicapping Saturday’s Lecomte Stakes — and they’re both going with a longshot atop their selections. 

The works

Come On Gerry — The Dale Romans trainee remained on schedule for the Holy Bull with a five-furlong breeze Wednesday in 1:01.11 at Gulfstream Park, where he broke his maiden back on Dec. 28 to earn the stakes try.

Mihos — The Mucho Macho Man Stakes hero is more likely to train up to the March 2 Fountain of Youth (G2) and set a course toward that goal with a three-furlong return to the work tab in 36 seconds at the Palm Meadows Training Center.

Tax — Third to Maximus Mischief in the Remsen, this Danny Gargain trainee is bound next for the Withers Stakes (G3) going 1 1/8 miles on Feb. 2. He tuned up with a third drill back Wednesday at Belmont Park, going a half mile in 49.23 seconds.

In case you missed it…

Tuesday’s Derby Daily report featured an interview with jockey Drayden Van Dyke, who lost one big mount on a 3-year-old but says he intends to keep his other heading into May.