Second Chances: Gun Runner Colt 'Locked' and Loaded at the Spa

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar.

Against the flow of the race from the outset, Locked (c, 2, Gun Runner–Luna Rosa, by Malibu Moon) rallied smartly from last after some trouble at the start to finish a very encouraging third sprinting on debut at Saratoga Aug. 5.

Chilly on the board at 12-1 for trainer Todd Pletcher, the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm colorbearer was forced to take up sharply shortly after break and trailed the field of 10 through an opening quarter in :22.56. Locked began to wind up from far back approaching the quarter pole and leveled off beautifully down the stretch beneath Jose Ortiz to come flying home in a field-best :12.04 while finishing 3 1/2 lengths adrift the winner. The chestnut earned an 81 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort, which also included a visually impressive gallop out past the top two.

Only a nose separated winning third-time starter Just Steel (Justify) and the favored Pletcher-trained firster Be You (Curlin), who were both advantageously forwardly placed in the six-furlong affair. The pacesetter Ozone (Mitole) tired to finish a well-beaten fourth.

“Jose Ortiz had breezed him a few times prior to his first race and was very high on the colt, but we knew going into his unveiling that six furlongs would be a bit sharp for him,” Eclipse President & Founder Aron Wellman said.

“So, Jose gave him an old-school education, let him get plenty of dirt in his face, shifted him outside to inside, split horses and then came with a big run in the stretch. He just ran out of real estate when the wire arrived, but his gallop out was exceptional and totally in line with what Todd and I had been seeing from him in his workouts and what we expected from him come game time.”

Bred in Kentucky by Rosa Colasanti, Locked brought $425,000 out of the Eaton Sales consignment on day three of last year's Keeneland September Yearling sale.

Hailing from the third crop of leading young sire Gun Runner, Locked was produced by a winning half-sister to MGISW Gabby's Golden Gal (Medaglia d'Oro) and MGSW & GISP Always a Princess (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}). The Gun Runner/Malibu Moon cross is already responsible for GSWs Shotgun Hottie and Runninsonofagun. Locked is also bred similarly to MGISW and 'TDN Rising Star' Taiba (Gun Runner), who is out of a Flatter mare.

Locked has returned to the worktab for Pletcher with a pair of five-furlong breezes since his unveiling, most recently stopping the timer in 1:01.77 (2/7) at the Spa Aug. 24.

“We hope to run him back in a maiden special weight at Saratoga,” Wellman said. “He is a colt who we have been impressed with from the moment we inspected him at the Keeneland September Yearling sale and he was always at the head of the class all winter and into the spring during his breaking and training process at Ocala Stud. Locked melded nicely into Todd Pletcher's program and maintained his position towards the top of the depth chart as he learned his lessons and gained fitness towards a debut.”

Wellman concluded, “Thankfully, he delivered the type of performance we thought he was capable of, and, with that ideal seasoning experience and more impressive training exhibitions since, we are confident he will take another step forward with added ground in his next race. Time always tells and it'll be up to Locked, but he's a colt who we consider a 'Blue Sky' prospect.”