Madefromlucky Returns a Winner at Gulfstream
After being given some time off to develop and grow into himself, Madefromlucky returned to the races in fine form Tuesday at Gulfstream, rolling home to an impressive victory in the seventh race, a maiden special weight for 2-year-olds.
The son of Lookin At Lucky, winner of the 2010 Preakness Stakes (G1) broke alertly and settled behind pacesetter Royal Squeeze before taking the lead at the top of the stretch and drawing off, unchallenged, to win by 4 ¾ lengths in the 1 1/16-mile main track contest. Gabriel Saez was aboard Madefromlucky for trainer John Mazza and owner Mac Nichol.
“I thought he ran a great race,” Mazza said. “I thought he would run good. Gabe (Saez) has been breezing him for me, and every time he breezes, he just keeps going. He never gets tired, this horse.”
Madefromlucky began his career this summer, when he ran three times at Monmouth Park, improving with every start and with every increase in distance. He ran fifth in his career debut when going 4 ½ furlongs before getting up for the show when stretching out an additional half-furlong in July. But Mazza saw the most improvement when he tried the colt at a mile in another maiden contest on August 10. That day, Madefromlucky rallied strongly to be second, just three-quarters of a length from victory. After that start, the colt was put on the shelf until Mazza let him loose on Tuesday. He covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.59 and paid $22.00 to win over Honor Earned ($7.00, $4.40) and Saham ($4.00).
“I let up on him,” Mazza said. “I ran him a couple times, but it was short. Then I ran him at a mile, and he ran well. So we gave him some time to grow, and he did. He filled out nice – his girth, his whole body filled out – and he’s been training so forwardly. When he breezes, he doesn’t want to pull up. He wants to keep going. I know he wants to go long. This was probably not long enough today.”
Madefromlucky was able to avoid trouble Tuesday. Near the six-furlong pole, Royal Squeeze, under Jose Valdivia, Jr., drifted out, causing the Gustavo Delgado-trained Equilibrium to clip heels, which unseated jockey Edgar Prado. The fall caused a chain reaction that led fellow starter Saraguaro and rider Paco Lopez to also go down. Lopez immediately jumped to his feet, while Prado was tended to by medics on the track. Both horses were unharmed.
Saez was grateful to have avoided the incident.
“It kind of helped me being close to the pace,” he said. “He broke so well. But when it happened, the two-horse (Royal Squeeze) kind of drifted out on Valdivia. I stayed in the position where I was. It’s tough to see that happen in a race. I hope Mr. Prado is okay. We got to get to the wire first, so that was a good thing, too.”
Prado took off his mounts for the rest of the day but avoided serious injury. He was reported to be body sore and suffered a laceration over his eye but was otherwise unharmed. Lopez picked up Prado’s mount in the ninth race and rode the aptly named Libby’sluckycharm to a subsequent victory for trainer Bobby Dibona ($20.20).
Who’s Hot: Paco Lopez and Diego Gomez each had two wins Tuesday. In addition to riding Libby’sluckycharm to victory, Lopez also won the fifth race with Barley Twist ($6.40). Gomez visited the Winner’s Circle with Another Grand Slam ($152.20), who pulled the day’s biggest upset at 70-1, and Dun Won ($12.20) in the 10th.
Rainbow Six Carryover: $56,368.43
Super Hi-5 Carryover: $20, 506.84