Hal 2 year old son of Urge win third of many starts in $150,000 Gray Stakes (G3), part of Nov 26 Honeysuckle The card also has a $150,000 Mazarine Bet (G3).
Coached by Darwin Banach, Hal arrives at the Tapeta race on the 1/16-mile main track with an impressive debut on October 2 and an equally impressive encore in the Display Stakes on November 5.
“He’s doing very, very well,” Banach said. “For some reason, it’s amazing when they know they’ve won a bet race. They seem to grow up, mature and understand it.”
During his career, under the helm of jockey Justin Stein, the maroon gelding, 13-1, took a four-stage lead in the extended race in the track allowance race. main seven legs long, crossed the rope 1 1/4 length on top in a time of 1:23.69.
Owned by Suzi Shoemaker and First Corp. Purebred (who co-breeded with Shoemaker’s Lantern Hill Farm), Hal followed up that performance with a stellar performance in his first bet test.
Losing 2-1, Hal duel with Tape home page and won the tough first half in a time of 1:22.00.
Banach said he continues to marvel at his young star’s maturity in the morning and afternoon.
“I think one thing that stands out is how easy it is to train. It makes everything so easy. You don’t have to worry about anything with a horse like this,” he said. “His last win, he had to dig deep and he wanted to win that race. I think (Ticker Tape Home) could have gone on if he hadn’t decided, ‘This is going to be going. is my race.’ I saw the desire to win in that lane and for me that was the most impressive part. It was the $625,000 Mark Casse purchase we were up against. You don’t just happen to walk past them. .”
Hal worked five runs in 1:03 4/5 on Tapeta on November 19 and looks to be heading into Gray in good form.
“He did a great job. The job, it was just a small maintenance job. He didn’t go very fast, but we just protected him a little bit. Justin turned around and said, ‘I’ve always been there. too many horses.’ He was happy about it.
Other beginners include the end of the blue bird winner of an impressive debut for coach Saffie Joseph Jr.
Bred and owned by Edward Seltzer and Beverly Anderson, son of the deceased English Channel score eight over a mile long and 70 yards across Gulfstream Park aggregated on Nov. 5. Led by 5-1, Bluebirds Over stopped the timer at 1:42.71.
“It was a very good effort,” Joseph said. “He trained well on the dirt track leading up to the race. Obviously, he had the pitch when he was the English Channel, so Tapeta was the closest we could get. But he didn’t. run well. He’s a beautiful winner as a horse can win. It’s going to be tough a second time against these horses, but we’ll give it a try.”
Mazarine has attracted honorable lady EASY Dark Bay’s Daughter Honor code owned by John Matthew Thompson and Madaket Stables, who broke her maiden October 7 at Gulfstream in her second start-up.
Trained by Joseph, dark bay won 7 1/2 lengths for Final Furlong Farm on the Hallandale synthetic track going 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.76. She finished second in her debut on September 16 at Gulfstream on the Dirt.
“The first race, we had her run on dirt because she trained well, but we always try to get her on grass or Tapeta,” says Joseph. “We’re tracking her half-brother (church street ) who ran well on Tapeta and grass at Woodbine. We think she’s a two-turner where distance will be key to her. We thought going into the second race she had a good chance of winning, and she exceeded our expectations a bit. She got up to speed very quickly and we looked at Woodbine right after that.”
Bred in Kentucky by William Harrigan and Mike Pietrangelo, the Honor D Lady worked three times: 37 4/5 against the Woodbine Tapeta on November 21. The Honor D Lady seems to have adapted well to her new surroundings. .
“She’s fine. She’s eating well, which you want to see when they deliver. So far, so good. The one thing about her is that she’s hot-tempered. Even walking around the barn, good. most of all you should make sure you know where she is. She’ll find a way to kick you. She’s very aggressive that way, but on the track, she’s all the work,” said Joseph.
Edgard Zayas will board the Honor D Lady.
Item: Gray S. (G3)
HoneysuckleSaturday, November 26, 2022, Race 3
- Class III
- 1 1/16m
- All weather tracker
- $150,000
- 2 years old
- 2:22pm (local)
Item: Mazarine S. (G3)
HoneysuckleSaturday, November 26, 2022, Race No. 10
- Class III
- 1 1/16m
- All weather tracker
- $150,000
- 2 year old girl
- 17:51 (local)
This press release has been edited by BloodHorse Staff for content and style.
