Mshawish Looks to Make the Grade in U.S.

Already a stakes winner at the Championship Meet, Mshawish will go after his first graded stakes victory in North America in Saturday’s $200,000 Fort Lauderdale.

Trained by Todd Pletcher for Al Shaqab Racing, the 5-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro capped his 2014 campaign with a two-length triumph over Excaper in the 7 ½-furlong El Prado Stakes on December 13.

A Group 2 winner in Dubai last February, Mshawish stretches back out to 1 1/16 miles for the Fort Lauderdale. He shows two strong works since the El Prado, including a bullet half-mile in 47 2/5 seconds on January 4 at Palm Beach Downs.

“We were going to see how he came out of the El Prado and make a decision of whether or not to run in the Fort Lauderdale or wait for the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap [G1 on February 7],” Pletcher said. “We decided that since he was doing so well and had such a good race over the track that this race made sense. Hopefully, if things go well he could still be under consideration for the next one. I thought he ran super last time and came out of it great, and has been training really well.”

Listed at 4-1 on the morning line, Mshawish will break from post three in the field of 14 that includes stablemate Protonico for main track only. Javier Castellano will be aboard for the third straight race.

Bred in Kentucky, Mshawish began his career racing in France before moving to Dubai last year and closing 2014 running eighth in the Group 1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin in Hong Kong.

Sixth in his North American debut, the Oceanport (G3) at Monmouth Park last July, he finished first in an optional claimer on August 30 at Saratoga but was disqualified to third for interference, then ran third in the Knickerbocker (G3) in October at Belmont Park.

“He’s always trained well; we just kind of had to fine-tune him a little bit in terms of how he’s ridden,” Pletcher said. “He’s a European horse that likes to be covered up a bit. He can get a little headstrong when he doesn’t get covered up, but we’re hoping for a similar setup to what we got last time. I think Javier has gotten to know him a little bit now, so hopefully we can build off that.”

Source: Gulfstream Park Communications