Lea to Return to Racing in Hal's Hope
Last January, Lea began what looked to be a promising campaign with back-to-back graded stakes victories at Gulfstream Park before an illness ultimately ended his season prematurely.
Eleven months after picking up his first Grade 1 victory in the Donn Handicap, the now 6-year-old Lea makes his return to racing in the $150,000 Hal’s Hope (G3), one of three graded stakes on Saturday’s 11-race program.
“He seems to be doing well, but he’s coming off a long layoff and coming into a stakes race,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. “Obviously, it’ll be a competitive spot I’m sure. We’re just looking to see how he does and hoping he makes a good showing coming off a layoff.”
The one-mile Hal’s Hope for older horses is where Lea kicked off his campaign in 2014, rolling to a 3 ¼-length victory in his first start for Mott. The Hal’s Hope was the first graded-stakes win on dirt for the chestnut son of First Samurai after racing primarily on grass and winning the Commonwealth Turf Stakes (G3) in November 2012.
Four weeks later, Lea followed up his Hal’s Hope victory with an even more impressive triumph in the Donn Handicap, turning back Eclipse Award champion Will Take Charge to win by 1 ½ lengths in 1:46.86, breaking Gulfstream’s 1 1/8-mile track record.
Lea developed a fever in early April and was slow to recover forcing Mott to take his time and miss races such as the Charles Town Classic, Metropolitan Mile, Whitney and Woodward.
“It kind of lingered a little longer than we had hoped, and just nothing went smoothly when we were coming back,” Mott said. “We just decided to give him extra time and sort of start all over. We could have run him late last fall in New York and we just opted not to do it and give him the time.”
Bred and owned by Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm, Lea has had eight works since mid-November at Payson Park Training Center, including a three-furlong breeze from the gate in 36.40 seconds on Monday.
“He’s been ticking right along,” Mott said. “He’s been on a weekly schedule and hasn’t missed a beat since he’s been in Florida.”
The only back-to-back winner of the Hal’s Hope was Angel Penna, Jr.-trained Chatain in 2007 and 2008. Joel Rosario, aboard for Lea’s Donn Handicap victory, gets the return call from Post 1.
Another horse making his first start off a layoff is Grade 3 winner Golden Lad, an E. Paul Robsham homebred trained by Todd Pletcher. The 5-year-old son of multiple Grade 1 winner Medaglia d’Oro ended 2014 with a pair of off-the-board finishes in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) and Pimlico Special (G3), the latter on May 16.
“He just kind of flattened out in the Pimlico Special and seemed a little jammed up coming out of it, so we decided to stop on him and give him a little break. He seems to have come back really well,” Pletcher said. “He’s proven on his day he’s capable of running big races and we like the way he’s training, so it looks like a good place to get his season started.”
After winning one of his first four starts in 2013, Golden Lad came to life last winter at Gulfstream with three consecutive allowance victories, two of them at the mile distance. He went on to take the Razorback Handicap (G3) at Oaklawn Park in mid-March.
“I think he’s a little better going a little further at the end of the day, but he’s had success at a mile, too, and he’s run well at Gulfstream,” Pletcher said. “I thought his win in the Razorback was arguably his best race. I don’t think he’s a one-track horse, but he seemed to just get good here last winter.”
Like Golden Lad, Crossed Sabres Farm’s Valid has enjoyed success at Gulfstream, with three wins and two seconds in six lifetime tries over the main track. Most recently, he was a game and decisive second in the $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday on December 13, a half-length behind Liam’s Map and 5 ¼ lengths ahead of Pants On Fire in third.
“I thought it was a great performance,” trainer Marcus Vitali said. “I think everything went right. I think it was just a case of: ‘May the best horse win,’ as they say in this game. You can’t win them all.”
Valid romped by six lengths in a seven-furlong Gulfstream allowance last April, then went on to win the Monmouth Cup (G2) and run third in the Salvatore Mile (G3) and Iselin (G3) at Monmouth Park over the summer before returning with a one-mile victory on September 11 at Gulfstream.
A gelded son of Medaglia d’Oro, Valid came from off the pace to win the Eight Miles West Stakes on October 11 at Gulfstream Park West.
“He seemed to get good and he’s stayed good, which is a rarity in this business. They’re like flowers, you know?” Vitali said. “This particular horse is a big, strong horse and he loves to train. Every day he’s getting stronger and stronger. I think he was late to develop and he’s finally come into himself. I just see good things for Valid on the horizon if he stays healthy.”
Owned by Eric Dattner and Harry Astarita and trained by Barclay Tagg, Confrontation will be making his first start beyond seven furlongs in the Hal’s Hope. Third in a six-furlong allowance at Gulfstream last March, he went on to win back-to-back races over the summer in New York and was second in the Bold Ruler (G3) on Oct. 24 at Belmont Park to end his 4-year-old campaign.
Multiple graded stakes winner Prayer for Relief, most recently sixth in the Clark Handicap (G1) on Nov. 28, cuts back to one mile for the Hal’s Hope. Trained by Dale Romans for Zayat Stables, the 7-year-old Jump Start horse is winless in 10 starts since winning the Tenacious Handicap in December 2013 at Fair Grounds but placed in three graded stakes, including the Whitney (G1) last August.
Rounding out the field is Slim Shadey, a front-running winner at Aqueduct in November making his 43rd lifetime start. Red-hot jockey Luis Saez rides for trainer David Jacobson.
Source: Gulfstream Park