Citrus Kid Begins Comeback at Gulfstream Park

Golden Goose Enterprises, James Covello and Michael Imperio's 5-year-old Citrus Kid makes an ambitious return to competition from a 15-month layoff in Sunday’s $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes at Gulfstream Park with jockey Joe Rocco, Jr. aboard for trainer John Terranova.

A son of Lemon Drop Kid, Citrus Kid made his last nine starts on turf during the 2010-11 seasons, placing in Graded stakes and finishing a close-up fourth in the Hollywood Derby (G1) when beaten less than a length for it all. He won allowance races at Gulfstream and Keeneland during that time.

“We’ve been looking for a spot to bring him back,” said Terranova Friday morning from Palm Meadows. “We had him entered in the Tropical Park Turf (G3) at Calder (Nov. 30), but the course there got a little rough at the end of the meet, so we scratched.

“This may not be the ideal spot, but he needs to get going again. He has run well on dirt and won the Dover Stakes (Delaware Park) as a 2-year-old, and he trains fantastic on dirt. More than likely he’ll end up back on turf in the bigger races here later in the season.”

Citrus Kid also finished third on dirt in the Remsen Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct after the Dover victory before switching to turf the next summer at Saratoga. The Harlan’s Holiday will mark his first start since finishing second in the PTHA President’s Cup at Parx on Sept. 17, 2011.

“We stopped on him because of a series of minor problems that took time,” said Terranova. “We turned him out for a while. He never had a problem that required surgery, but we had to stop on him a couple of times as we tried to bring him back. He’s a neat old class horse and we’re looking forward to getting him going again.”