Grade I winners Private Zone (Macho Uno) and Wicked Strong (Hard Spun) headline a strong field of six in today's GII Gulfstream Park H. The former was transferred from Doug O'Neill to Alfredo Velazquez this fall before defending his title in Belmont's GI Vosburgh Invitational S. Sept. 27, and finished a good third in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita Nov. 1. Stretched to this distance for the Big A's GI Cigar Mile H., the Good Friends Stable representative seized early command over a speed-friendly surface and never looked back en route to a five-length romp. He has since been transferred to the barn of Jorge Navarro, and has been working quickly at Gulfstream Park West. “It's a chance of a lifetime,” Navarro, who seeks his first graded stakes win as a trainer and will also saddle longshot Loverbil (Not For Love), said. “I appreciate the chance the owners have given me.” He added, “He's a beautiful horse. The way he trains, he does everything so easily. The times he's putting up are serious, and we're not asking him for anything.”
Wicked Strong finished fourth in last year's GI Kentucky Derby off a win in the GI Wood Memorial S., and also completed the superfecta in the GI Belmont S. The Centennial Farms representative added the GII Jim Dandy S. at Saratoga in July before losing the GI Travers S. a month later by a nose to fellow Jimmy Jerkens trainee V.E. Day (English Channel). The bay has been off since clipping heels and losing rider Rajiv Maragh (who was subsequently sidelined with a broken arm) in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Sept. 27. “I'm so excited to get back on him, because since the comeback to Palm Meadows, he looks like a much more mature horse,” offered Maragh. “He gained a lot of weight; he's filled out, looks stronger. He's developing and it seems like he's moving forward off the great form he had last year. I think the best is yet to come.”
Lane's End Racing and Dell Ridge Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Honor Code (A.P. Indy) makes his much-anticipated return to graded stakes company after an abbreviated sophomore campaign. The 2013 GII Remsen S. winner and GI Champagne S. runner-up was a distant second to Social Inclusion (Pioneerof the Nile) in an 1 1/16-mile allowance here Mar. 12, but didn't resurface until uncorking a head-turning rally to take a 6 1/2-furlong optional claimer at Aqueduct Nov. 22.
Crossed Sabres Farm's Valid (Medaglia d'Oro) has earned double-digit Beyer Speed Figures in nine of his last 11 outings, and most recently grabbed the track-and-trip GIII Fred Hooper S. here Feb. 7.
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