Battalion Runner 4-5 favorite in first start around two turns

The connections of runaway maiden winner Battalion Runner gave some consideration to running the Unbridled’s Song colt back in Saturday’s $350,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull Stakes (G2), but decided to forego deeper waters for the present moment, entering him instead in Friday’s featured eighth race, an optional claimer for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles on the dirt. 

 

Battalion Runner has been installed as the 4-5 favorite in the eight-horse field. He will be ridden by John Velazquez.

 

Todd Pletcher trains Battalion Runner for Vinnie and Teresa Viola’s St Elias Stable, which acquired the colt for $700,000 as a yearling from Keeneland’s September sale. In his second career start and first race since June, Battalion Runner made quick work of seven rivals and rambled home a 8 3/4-length winner of the seven-furlong race at Gulfstream Park Dec. 31.  The runner-up that day, Lookin for Eights, returned to easily win a maiden race on the Pegasus undercard.

 

A good performance Friday would likely lead to Battalion Runner entering the Kentucky Derby prep scene for his next start.

 

“He’s a horse we thought a lot of all along,” Pletcher said. “He’s run well, he’s trained well, and gives us the impression the way he trains that he will stretch out, but, of course, you always have to go out there and prove it.

 

“From a talent standpoint, we certainly mulled running him in a stakes after the maiden win,” he added. “But it’s only his third lifetime start and we felt like we wanted to get a little more seasoning before we stretched him out against horses with a lot more foundation and experience. We feel like he is talented enough, hopefully, to step up into a prep race after this.”

 

Pletcher will be represented in the Holy Bull by undefeated Fact Finding, who captured the Smooth Air Stakes at Gulfstream Dec. 10 by seven lengths.

 

Also on Saturday, Pletcher will debut Repole Stable’s homebred Nonna Bella, a half-sister to Outwork, the winner of last year’s Wood Memorial (G1).  Nonna Bella is among 12 3-year-old fillies entered in Race 9, a maiden special weight at 6 1/2 furlongs on the dirt.

 

A daughter of Stay Thirsty, a Grade 1 winner trained by Pletcher and campaigned by Repole, Nonna Bella has been working steadily at Palm Beach Downs for her debut.

 

“Outwork was her half-brother and he was able to win first time out, and Nonna’s Boy was her half-brother and he was able to win first time out,” Pletcher said. “I think that there is usually something to that fact that some pedigree lines tend to have more success than others in their debuts.”

 

Pletcher said the key, however, to how Nonna Bella performs on Saturday is tied to how she behaves.

 

“Her gate work was good, but she also can get a little bit excitable so we’re hoping she takes everything in stride, and gets an alert beginning, which I think is always critical in maiden races at Gulfstream,” Pletcher remarked.

 

 

After saddling the favorite in the $350,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull (G2) each of the past three years, two of them winners, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin enters Saturday’s renewal from the opposite direction.

 

Godolphin Racing’s Cavil and Shadwell Stable’s Shamsaan figure to be big prices in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull, Gulfstream’s first major prep for 3-year-olds on the road to the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) and Triple Crown.

 

“We’re going to come at it from a different way this time. We’re not going to be the favorites,” said McLaughlin, who won the Holy Bull with Mohaymen last year and Cairo Prince in 2014, and was second with Frosted in 2015. “We’ve got a couple long shots, but we just wanted to give it a try.”

 

Cavil stretches out after a pair of one-mile efforts, breaking his maiden impressively Dec. 2 at Aqueduct in a race taken off the turf before finishing sixth as the favorite in the Mucho Macho Man Jan. 7 at Gulfstream.

 

“He had a troubled trip. We feel like he’s better than that and hopefully we have a cleaner trip, [drawing] outside going two turns,” McLaughlin said. “But he’s much better than that last race. He had trouble around the turn and we feel like he should improve, but he’s going to have to. It’s going to be a tough race.”

 

Cavil, with jockey Jose Lezcano, drew Post 8 in a nine-horse field topped by 2016 champion 2-year-old male Classic Empire. Shamsaan will break alongside in Post 7 and both will carry 116 pounds, six fewer than co-topweights Classic Empire and Gunnevera.

 

Shamsaan has been entered for the turf in all four of his starts, two of which were moved to the main track, where he graduated with a 9 ¾-length romp over a sloppy, sealed surface Dec. 10 at Gulfstream to cap his juvenile season.

 

Luis Saez, aboard for the maiden triumph, gets the return call.

 

“It was a big effort here the other day in an off-the-turfer. It was wet that day and he won impressively going two turns, so we thought, ‘Let’s give it another try,’” McLaughlin said. “It’s a big step up, but we decided that he’s won here going two turns so let’s try it again and see where we stack up. It’s a tough race.”

 

On the Holy Bull undercard, McLaughlin has an exciting prospect in Apiary, a 3-year-old half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Frosted, who finished second in the 2015 Holy Bull. Apiary, a Darley homebred who campaigns in the colors of Godolphin Racing LLC, will launch her career in Race 9, a 6 1/2-furlong dirt race with maiden special weight conditions.

 

“She is training very well,” McLaughlin said of the Bernardini filly whose dam is Fast Cookie. “We think she is talented but we think she might very well need a race or might just be in tough — I think it’s a tough race. But we expect her to run well. We like the post position [8].”

 

Among the other first-time starters entered in Race 9, which drew a field of 12, are Awestruck, a daughter of Tapit who was acquired for $525,000 as a yearling at Keeneland, and Gifted Lady, a Distorted Humor filly who was bought for $725,000 at the same sale.

 

McLaughlin trained the Godolphin-owned and Darley-bred Frosted, a son of Tapit who was retired after his 2016 campaign. During Frosted’s brilliant 19-race career he earned nearly $4 million, and punctuated his resume with victories in the Whitney (G1) and Metropolitan Mile (G1). 

 

Currently in the McLaughlin barn is Apiary’s full-sister, the 4-year-old Indulgent, a winner of her last three starts, most recently an allowance race at Aqueduct Jan. 26.