Senor Grits Set for Stakes Debut in Swale

Patiently pointed to his grade-stakes debut, the wait ends on Saturday for Six Column Stables and Randall Bloch’s Senor Grits.

The bay Elusive Quality gelding drew Post 6 in a field of eight for the $200,000 Fasig-Tipton Swale (G2) at Gulfstream Park. The seven-furlong Swale for 3-year-olds comes five weeks after Senor Grits made his season debut with a handy 1 ½-length victory in an entry-level allowance at Tampa Bay Downs.

“I always had the Swale in mind for him,” trainer Ian Wilkes said. “He’s a fast little horse. I think he’ll be well-suited in there. The plan the whole winter was to point for the Swale and give him a shot in there.”

Wilkes had to wait an extra week after the Swale was postponed when torrential rainstorms canceled the final seven races of Gulfstream’s Feb. 28 card. Senor Grits is one of six horses from the original field to be re-entered for Saturday’s race though Souper Colossal – also cross-entered in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) – will not run after coming down with a fever.

Senor Grits broke his maiden in his second start at Churchill Downs last fall then ran third behind Cinco Charlie and Majestic Affair, beaten 3 ¾ lengths, in the James F. Lewis III at Laurel Park to end his juvenile campaign. Cinco Charlie, a Grade 3 winner at 2, and Majestic Affair both came back to win a pair of stakes.

In all, seven of the 10 horses in the Lewis returned to win races including fourth-place finisher Golden Years, who took the Marylander Stakes and was third in the Miracle Wood at Laurel and Ackeret, a subsequent Parx allowance winner who ran fourth in the Jerome (G3).

“The form in that race is unbelievable,” Wilkes said. “It speaks very highly of him.”

Though he prefers to run from off the pace, Senor Grits found himself well back in his most recent race before launching a three-wide bid and closing steadily to win in 1:09.74 in his fourth straight start at six furlongs.

“He ran a 1:09 at Tampa to win which was an exceptional run, because he got a little further back in the race than I planned,” Wilkes said. “He was just a victim of circumstances there the way it shaped up, but he caught the leader quite easily, actually. It was a very impressive race.”

Fasig-Tipton Swale Marks Quick Turnaround for Bluegrass Singer
At one time, trainer Marcus Vitali was weighing whether he should run speedy stakes winner Bluegrass Singer around two turns in the Besilu Stables Fountain of Youth (G2) or return him to sprinting in the Fasig-Tipton Swale (G2).

As it turns out, Vitali will be doing both. Just two weeks after finishing sixth in the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth, the sophomore son of Grade 1 winner Bluegrass Cat returns in Saturday’s seven-furlong Swale.

“I feel good. I feel confident. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t go in,” Vitali said. “He seemed to come back out of the last race a little better than expected. He’s a strong horse. I think he’ll be fine. We got an extra week after they canceled the race, and he’s doing good. I’m just thinking a little bit out of the box.”

Crossed Sabres Farm’s Bluegrass Singer captured the one-mile Mucho Macho Man Stakes, formerly the Gulfstream Park Derby, on Jan. 3 and led for six furlongs before finishing third behind Upstart and Frosted in the Lambholm South Holy Bull (G2) three weeks later. He returned in the Fountain of Youth, also run at 1 1/16 miles, and led the field for nearly three-quarters of a mile until tiring late.

“I was thinking the Swale before I went in the Fountain of Youth,” Vitali said. “I wasn’t disappointed in the Fountain of Youth. It was a crapshoot. Those horses in there, they’re the real deal. When you’re running against horses like Frosted and Upstart, you’ve got to wonder if it was the distance. I thought he carried the field a pretty good six, 6 ½ furlongs last time, and the track was a little funny that day. There were just so many unanswered questions off that race it kind of swayed me a little bit to go in this direction.”

In his last try at sprinting, Bluegrass Singer was third by a neck in the Buffalo Man Stakes Nov. 29 at Gulfstream Park West. He captured back-to-back one-turn mile races at Gulfstream, including an entry-level allowance with Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado, before stepping up into graded stakes. Prado will be back aboard for the Swale from outside Post 8.

“I actually discussed this with Edgar, too. My whole team, we just feel that this is probably the right spot to come back. I think he’s a much tighter horse now going into the sprint. I’m just hoping I’ve got him wound down enough off those two routes,” Vitali said. “I figured that if you look at all the numbers, he certainly fits. I talked it over with my boss and we both came up with the game plan to run in here after it was canceled. He’s training real well, so we figured we’d take a stab at it. I don’t think he’ll embarrass us.”

Source: Gulfstream Park Notes