Main Event, Full Count Felicia win Pegasus turf preps

Main Event, back in stakes company for the first time since the summer, got out to a comfortable lead under Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano and had something left to hold off a late run from Kingmax to win Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Fort Lauderdale by a nose at Gulfstream Park.

The 66th running of 1 1/8-mile Fort Lauderdale for 3-year-olds and up, the local prep for the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1), anchored an 11-race program featuring five stakes, three graded, worth $725,000 in purses.

It was the first Fort Lauderdale win for trainer George Weaver and fourth for Castellano following Union Place in 2005, Silver Medallion in 2012 and Mshawish in 2015. Main Event ($25) now owns three wins and a second from four tries on the Gulfstream turf, including his first of now three career stakes victories in the 2022 Cutler Bay.

“He is very talented. We’ve always been looking forward to getting back here. He does love this turf course,” Weaver said. “He’s a graded-stakes winner and he’s had plenty of experience.

“His last race at Aqueduct was a big move up speed figure-wise. He’d been running good, just not good enough,” he added. “Last race was kind of a breakthrough and then to get back here on this turf course. We’re glad to be here and glad he ran as well as he did.”

“I told Javier to warm him up and put him on the lead,” Weaver said. “I told him he won’t break and put you there, you need to ride him there. He followed instructions and luckily it worked out.”

Main Event went a half-mile in 47.88 seconds as Running Bee took up the chase in second and Stone Age moved up to third as Jerry the Nipper dropped back. Castellano was still in command turning for home when Kingmax began to roll from midpack under British jockey David Egan, making his Gulfstream debut.

The two front-runners hooked up in midstretch and battled side-by-side to the wire with Main Event winning the head bob after going 1:46.47 over a turf course rated good. Jerry the Nipper finished third, with stablemate Grand Sonata fourth and Stone Age fifth.

“It was pretty straightforward. (Weaver) told me before the race he wanted the horse to be in a forward position if he can; if not, then be close to the pace,” Castellano said. “He broke a step slow but the horse inside me was backing up so I dictate the pace myself. He has a brilliant stride. I like the way he did it.

“I believed I could win by the half-mile pole because he was so relaxed, so comfortable, and when I asked him he just took off. When he took off, he was waiting on horses and when he saw the horse on the outside he broke again and got it done.”

Winner of the 2022 Kent (G3) at Delaware Park, Main Event was off for nearly a year before coming back in July at Saratoga. He ran fifth in three straight optional claiming allowances in New York before a head victory in the same condition going 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 3.

Weaver, who captured the Queen Mary (G2) this summer at Royal Ascot with Gulfstream stakes winner Crimson Advocate, said Main Event would be pointed to the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus Turf, part of a blockbuster Jan. 27 program that includes the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) on dirt and $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G2).

“I would try it, why not? He loves this turf course,” Weaver said. “What else are you going to do. He’s out of conditions. You have to try stuff, you know?”

Full Count Felicia rides rail to Suwannee River win

Full Count Felicia traveled the shortest distance possible around the Gulfstream Park turf course Saturday, never leaving the rail on her way to a popular victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 Suwannee River. 

Trainer Britney Russell and owner Gold Square selected the Suwannee River, a mile turf stakes for fillies and mares, as a prep for the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G2) on Jan. 27.

“We’re prepping for the Pegasus. We prepped in this race, and we’re looking forward to coming back next month,” said Gold Square's Al Gold.

Full Count Felicia, the even-money favorite in a field of eight, had finished fourth in her most recent start in the Goldikova (G2) on the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup undercard at Santa Anita. The 4-year-old daughter of War Front had won her three previous starts, including an 8 1/2-length score in the All Along at Pimlico.

“We thought about just kind of sitting on her and making sure her energy was back from the trip and everything, but after watching that work and watching her train it’s like, this filly was sitting there begging to run,” said Russell. “It was nice to see her back up her training.”

“I had a beautiful trip. She put me in a perfect spot and after that I waited until it was time to go,” said Ortiz, the defending Championship Meet titlist. “At the quarter-pole, I couldn’t get outside, then the rail opened up and I went for it.”

Full Count Felicia ran a mile in 1:34.32 over a good turf course on her way to her first collecting her graded-stakes victory by three-quarters of a length. Accomplished Girl, who captured the Presque Isle Masters (G2) on Tapeta in her prior start, closed well in the stretch to finish second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Sister Lou Ann, her Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained stablemate.