Lassofthemohicans Gets Acid Test in Forward Gal

From the time he acquired Lassofthemohicans, Brendan Walsh had a goal – to make her a successful 3-year-old. After turning heads in her final start at two, Lassofthemohicans will take the next step toward that goal when she makes her sophomore debut in Saturday’s $200,000 Forward Gal Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

Lassofthemohicans, a daughter of Indian Charlie and the Tale of the Cat mare Dream Street, has improved with each start during her four-race career. After running second in each of her first three starts, including a heartbreaking nose defeat at Keeneland in her second outing, the filly had a breakthrough performance in a Dec. 28 maiden special weight at Gulfstream. She took command of the race from the start, and despite being pressured throughout the early going, she was able to kick clear at the 3/16ths pole and draw off to an easy five-length victory as jockey Joel Rosario wrapped her up approaching the finish.

The run opened eyes around the country. More than 2,500 miles away in California, HRTV analyst Brad Free identified Lassofthemohicans as a “Future Star” and called the filly, “the most impressive maiden winner anywhere in the country” for that week.

Walsh believes that win boosted the filly’s confidence as she’s readied to step up to graded stakes competition for the first time.

“For me, the most important thing was, she had run second three times in a row, so she proved that she was good enough,” Walsh said. “She was beaten a nose at Keeneland two runs back, and she ran well at Churchill before that. So I think it was really important for her to get that initial win, and I think it gave her great confidence. She’s been coming along really nicely since. We haven’t pushed her at any point at all. I’ve always trained her to be a 3-year-old more than anything, so I’ve just let her come along herself. I’m hopeful that there’s plenty more left in her.”

Lassofthemohicans turned in a bullet work at Palm Meadows on Saturday in preparation for the Forward Gal, a breeze for which Walsh, who personally rides many of his horses, was aboard. The filly was clocked going five furlongs in :59.30 seconds, the fastest of 25 horses to work that morning.

“I was pleased,” Walsh said. “I rode her myself, and she breezed really good. The times were good, but it was impressive for me, too. I sat her off two other fillies and she joined up with them and finished up good, which is what I always look for. We were on the fence as to whether we’d go in [the Forward Gal] or not, but that kind of made me more positive that we should take a shot. It looks like it’s going to come up a pretty tough race, but she handled the track there pretty good, so, ‘Why not?’ ”

Several other entrants will be making their 3-year-old debuts in the 7-furlong Forward Gal, among them Skipalute. Skipalute, trained by Eddie Kenneally, is still a maiden, but only in title, not stature. After missing by a nostril in a maiden special weight at Saratoga in her third career start, Kenneally thought the filly had shown enough to step up in class, and the daughter of Midnight Lute would prove him right. In her next two starts, she would run notable seconds in graded stake events – the Matron (G2) at Belmont Park and the Delta Downs Princess (G3) Nov. 22 at Delta Downs, in which the only filly to beat her was Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner and recently crowned 2-year-old Filly Champion Take Charge Brandi.

“She was a little bit unlucky when she was second in a really good maiden race at Saratoga,” Kenneally said. “She was beaten just an inch at the wire – just got nailed at the wire. We opted at that point to run her in a graded race after that versus a maiden race, and it worked out. She was second, and that was a whole lot more valuable to her as a potential broodmare and everything else down the road, being second in that Grade 2 race, the Matron at Belmont Park. Shortly after that, we ran her in the Delta Princess at Delta Downs, and she was second to Champion Take Charge Brandi. So her form is really good. She hasn’t won a race yet, but she has quite a bit on her resume.”

By the Moon enters the Forward Gal with quite a resume as well. The Michelle Nevin trainee was early to develop, making her a top 2-year-old in 2014. By Indian Charlie out of the Malibu Moon mare By the Light, By the Moon broke her maiden at first asking at Saratoga before immediately graduating to Grade 1 competition in her next start, the Spinaway Stakes, where she ran second to Condo Commando. She would only have to wait one more race to get a Grade 1 win, and that came in Keeneland’s Frizette on Oct. 4.

“She showed that she was ready to run,” Nevin said. “She did the rest herself at Saratoga. It was easy to go from there.”

By the Moon suffered her first off-the-board performance in the Breeders’ Cup, finishing eighth in the Juvenile Fillies when breaking from the far outside in a field of 12.

“She had a terrible post,” Nevin said. “It was very speed favoring that day. She kind of got going early out of the gate and got a little bit running free through the turn and blew the turn a little bit. That didn’t help. It was a lot of different things.”

Nevin is ready to start anew with By the Moon in 2015.

“She’s more experienced now,” she said. “She takes everything in stride and knows what’s happening around her. She didn’t grow a whole patch – she’s not a very big filly – but she definitely filled out. We’re happy with her.”

Todd Pletcher is also pleased with the development of Enchantress, a daughter of Malibu Moon who romped by five lengths in an allowance at Gulfstream on Dec. 13 over fellow Forward Gal entrant Momameamaria. Enchantress also won her career debut by daylight at Keeneland last October but faltered in her lone graded stakes start, November’s Tempted Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct, where she finished fifth.

“We were very pleased with [her last race],” Pletcher said. “Her first race was good. She kind of didn’t fire in her second start, but the allowance race put her back on track, and we’re looking forward to [this race].”

Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer will ship the multiple stakes winning Seduire in for the Forward Gal in what will be the filly’s first start outside of California. A daughter of Elusive Quality, Seduire followed up a 2-year-old season in which she earned two stakes victories with her first graded stakes triumph in her 3-year-old debut. On Jan. 3, she took the Santa Ynez (G2) gate-to-wire by 2 ¼ lengths, her fourth win in seven career starts, all of which have been won on the front end.

“[The Santa Ynez] was nice,” Hollendorfer said. “She came away from the gate very smooth, and she has natural speed. The rider doesn’t have to send her. We’ll see. Speed’s usually good at all the racetracks, and maybe it will be at Gulfstream, too.”

Hollendorfer chose this race with the long-term goal of stretching Seduire, who has excelled sprinting, out in distance in future races.

“I think she’ll ship fine,” he said. “She’s got a lot of substance to her. We chose the race, because it’s a 7-furlong race. She’s won at 6 ½, and we want to see if we can get an extra little distance with her. If we can, we might try something longer.”

Phaedrus Flights LLC’s Ekati’s Phaeton also won her 3-year-old debut in a graded stakes race when she took the local prep for the Forward Gal, the Old Hat (G3) on Jan. 3. A daughter of Tale of Ekati, Ekati’s Phaeton has yet to lose in three starts over the Gulfstream Park main track. Trainer Bill Kaplan believes his filly is blossoming into a very talented racehorse and has dangerous tactical speed.

“She couldn’t be doing any better,” Kaplan said. “She’s just a pro now. In a very short time, she’s become a professional racehorse. She’s got a ton of speed. We were up close [in the Old Hat], but she was well within herself. She’s a very fast filly.”

Also entered in the Forward Gal are the stakes-placed Taylor S, who romped by 6 ¼ lengths in her last start, a Nov. 29 allowance at Churchill Downs; and Distinta, a recent maiden winner at Gulfstream on Jan. 3 who has yet to run worse than second in three career starts. Birdatthewire and Tripocha round out the field.

Source: Gulfstream Park