Maximus Mischief 'plenty fit' for Holy Bull despite rain delays

Cash is King and LC Racing’s undefeated Grade 2 winner Maximus Mischief galloped over Gulfstream Park’s main track Sunday morning, less than a week before he is expected to be favored for his sophomore debut in the $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Holy Bull (G2).

The 30th running of the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull is the next step on Gulfstream’s road to the $1 million Xpressbet.com Florida Derby (G1) March 30, and headlines a program of five stakes for sophomores, four graded, worth $850,000 in purses.

Maximus Mischief has had two works this month over Gulfstream’s main track, the most recent a five-furlong breeze in 58.02 seconds Jan. 19, fastest of 57 horses. Trainer Robert E. ‘Butch’ Reid said the horse will be ready for the Holy Bull whether or not he is able to have another breeze with more rain in the forecast.

“He had a nice gallop this morning but he was not able to breeze. I wasn’t quite comfortable with the track this morning and especially with the track closed yesterday and he didn’t get to train,” Reid said. “He’ll definitely train in some sort tomorrow, but I doubt he’ll be able to breeze. At any rate, he’s plenty fit. If we end up doing a little three-eighths or something like that on Tuesday I’d be fine with that.”

Maximus Mischief romped in his first two starts of 2018, winning by a combined 14 ¾ lengths at Parx, where Reid is based. He stepped up and stretched out to 1 1/8 miles in the Remsen (G2) Dec. 1 at Aqueduct, beating his six rivals by 2 ¼ lengths.

“I’m not worried about fitness at all. It’s just about where his mental state is. I don’t want to go two weeks without a work, but he trains forward every day,” Reid said. “He has good, strong mile and three-quarter gallops every day and puts a little blowout for himself at the end. I’m not concerned at all about the fitness, just if we’ve got a nice settled horse when it comes to Saturday and we head over to the paddock.”