City Man rallies inside for Fort Lauderdale triumph

City Man completed a sensational 2022 for himself and his owners, rallying along the rail in the stretch under Joel Rosario to win Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Fort Lauderdale by 1 1/2 lengths at Gulfstream Park.

Decorated Invader, who drew in from the also-eligible list after the early scratch of Marwad, prompted the pace and finished second by a neck over Street Ready. Christophe Clement trained the first- and second-place finishers in the race, who are now likely headed to the Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream on Jan. 28.

Street Ready was third, a head better than Winfromwithin and Good Governance, who finished in a dead heat for fourth. Colonel Liam, the even-money favorite who was racing in tandem with City Man for the first six furlongs, tired in the lane and finished sixth.

For City Man, a 5-year-old New York-bred son of Mucho Macho Man, it was his third straight stakes win, fifth stakes victory this year and eighth in his career. He is now 9 for 26 with earnings of $987,120.

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For owners Dean and Patti Reeves, it was their 21st stakes win of the year, 15 coming with Clement-trained runners.

“It’s been an incredible year for us,” Dean Reeves said in the winner’s circle in an interview broadcast on the Gulfstream Park simulcast feed. “We’ve really been blessed.”

Both Reeves and Clement wanted to run City Man in the Fort Lauderdale to see if he was worthy of going onto the Pegasus, a race in which Clement has never participated. Taking on two-time Pegasus winner Colonial Liam was a good gauge.

Under Joel Rosario, City Man raced in third, inside of Colonel Liam, down the backstretch while Winfromwithin set the pace chased by Decorated Invader, who had the extreme outside post in a 12-horse field.

Coming to the top of the lane, as Colonel Liam went wide, Rosario was behind horses on City Man, needing room. When Winfromwithin drifted off the rail, Rosario pounced and shot City Man through the inside and he outfinished Decorated Invader.

“He came out of the gate well, so I could get a good position,” Rosario said. “I was in a good spot. He did the rest after that.”

City Man covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.10 over firm ground and returned $8.20 as the 3-1 second choice. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 99.

“As he’s getting older he’s getting better,” Clement said. “But he’s won stakes for us every year since he was a 2-year-old.”

Clement said he was also glad to see Decorated Invader, a Grade 1 winner in 2019, return to form. Clement said he would point him to the Pegasus as well.

Colonel Liam was making his first start in nine months, and seemed in a pretty good spot under Irad Ortiz Jr. before flattening out.

"I thought we worked out a really good trip from the wide post to get the position we wanted,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “They were running along pretty quickly, Irad said he just flattened out on him a little bit. Been a while since he ran and he needed a race. … The plan is to run him back in the Pegasus unless he tells us not to."

Stolen Holiday takes Suwannee River

Overcoming some traffic entering the first turn, Stolen Holiday rallied from seventh under Junior Alvarado to outfinish Lady Rockstar and win the Grade 3, $125,000 Suwannee River Stakes for fillies and mares by one length.

It was 1 1/2 lengths back to pacesetting Bay Storm in third.

The win was the fifth from 12 starts for Stolen Holiday, a 5-year-old daughter of War Front owned by Annette Allen and trained by Shug McGaughey.

She added the Suwannee River to an earlier victory in the Grade 3 Eatontown at Monmouth Park in June. That day, Stolen Holiday won on the lead.

On Saturday, it was jockey Junior Alvarado’s plan to be close to the pace, but going into the first turn, when it looked like he could get a stalking third position, Alvarado was forced to steady after getting bumped by Kahiko, who was carried out a little by Diamond Wow.

“After that I had to settle and take it little by little,” Alvarado said. “She settled very well for me. At the three-eighths pole, I knew I had plenty of horse, I was hoping I could catch the horse on the lead. She finished very well for me.”

Stolen Holiday covered the mile in 1:34.32 and returned $13.40 as the fourth choice. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 96.

“That’s a little bit different style for her, although she did finish [when second in the Sand Springs] here last year,” McGaughey told Gulfstream publicity. “She’s usually more forwardly placed. In the first turn, I didn’t know what would happen, but she finished real good.”

Stolen Holiday could be considered for the Grade 3, $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Turf at 1 1/16 miles at Gulfstream on Jan. 28.

- additional reporting by Mike Welsch

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