All three Maker runners look dangerous in Mac Diarmida

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sending out the top three finishers in a graded stakes might be a career accomplishment for some trainers, but for Mike Maker, it’s a box already ticked in the new year.

In fact, in just the two months since the calendar turned over to 2017, Maker has swept the trifecta in the Grade 3 John B. Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston, won the Grade 3 W.L. McKnight at Gulfstream Park, won the Grade 3 Colonel Bradley at Fair Grounds, and had the one-two finishers last weekend in the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap.

Maker will be looking to continue his remarkable early-season dominance of America’s older-horse turf division on Saturday at Gulfstream when he sends out a trio of live runners in the Grade 2, $200,000 Mac Diarmida, a 1 3/8-mile turf race that directly precedes the day’s finale and overall highlight, the Fountain of Youth Stakes, as the 12th of 13 races.

“All three are on top of their game, and they’d better be,” said Maker. “This looks like a really tough race, as you would expect.”

The Maker team is part of a field of 12 in the 22nd Mac Diarmida and consists of Bigger Picture, the winner of the Red Smith and Connally in recent starts; Taghleeb, the McKnight winner; and Charming Kitten, a Ken and Sarah Ramsey homebred with four wins and two seconds from nine starts over the local course.

“Charming Kitten got a lot out of his last race, and I’m expecting a forward move,” said Maker.

The likely favorite is Wake Forest, the Chad Brown-trained 7-year-old who ended an otherwise-productive 2016 campaign with a disappointing run as an odds-on favorite behind Bigger Picture in the Nov. 12 Red Smith at Aqueduct.

“We’ve regrouped him, and he’s doing really well into this,” said Brown.

Other contenders include Danish Dynaformer, the Red Smith runner-up for Roger Attfield; Flatlined, the winner of the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale here in January for Scooter Dickey; Mr Maybe, a Brown trainee who was the beaten favorite in the McKnight; and Twilight Eclipse, an earner of $2.1 million for West Point Thoroughbreds.

◗ Maker and Brown also have horses who figure prominently in the sister race to the Mac Diarmida, the Grade 3, $150,000 The Very One at 1 3/16 miles on turf.

Brown sends out Olorda off a layoff of more than 10 months, while Maker counters with the steady 4-year-old Try Your Luck. They and five others will face a stern challenge when matched up against Suffused, whose victory here five weeks ago in the Grade 3 La Prevoyante furthered her rise in the elite ranks of filly-and-mare turf horses.

Maker believes Try Your Luck, third in the La Prevoyante, might well be primed for a breakthrough performance in the third race of her form cycle.

“That was her first start against older mares, and I thought she ran a dynamite race,” he said.

The Very One, Race 7

KEY CONTENDERS

Suffused, by Champs Elysees

Last 3 Beyers: 95-95-97

◗ This 5-year-old British import has acclimated extremely well for owner-breeder Juddmonte Farms and trainer Bill Mott, having ended her 2016 campaign with a nose defeat in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor before returning with the big La Prevoyante effort.

Olorda, by Lord of England

Last 3 Beyers: 91-92-83

◗ A wire-to-wire winner of the 2016 The Very One, this speedy German-bred has trained “fabulous,” according to Brown, since recovering from a hind-end injury that sidelined her last June.

Mac Diarmida, Race 12

KEY CONTENDERS

Wake Forest, by Sir Percy

Last 3 Beyers: 98-99-99

◗ Brown said a return to the Grade 1 Man o’ War is the first major goal with this German-bred, whose seven 2016 races netted six finishes in the money and nearly $460,000 in earnings.

Taghleeb, by Hard Spun

Last 3 Beyers: 100-95-99

◗ His gritty McKnight triumph under a terrific ride by Tyler Gaffalione underscored his fondness for the local turf course (seven starts, three wins, two seconds, one third).