Breaking the Rules better than ever since return from long layoff
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Breaking the Rules made it 2 for 2 since his return from a year layoff with a strong one-length victory in a high-caliber allowance race here Wednesday.
Breaking the Rules, 13 lengths off the pace at one point, ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.35 and earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure. On June 20, Breaking the Rules won a 1 1/8-mile allowance race, his first race since he finished last in the Grade 3 Poker in 2019.
Trainer Shug McGaughey said that Breaking the Rules, who won the Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park in 2018, developed bone bruising after the Poker and was turned out for the remainder of the year.
McGaughey said a race like the $85,000 Lure Stakes on Sept. 7 could be next for Breaking the Rules, a Phipps Stable homebred son of War Front.
“I’ve always thought he was a horse with a lot of ability, and even though he won a stakes and been placed in some others, I never thought he was giving me everything he had,” McGaughey said. “These last two races I thought maybe he had.”
◗ Among the turf workers on Friday at Saratoga were Rushing Fall (a half-mile in 48.98 seconds) for the Grade 1 Diana on Aug. 23 and the duo of Raging Bull and Without Parole (a half in 49.18 seconds), who are both pointing to the Grade 1 Fourstardave here on Aug. 22.