Cox ships in with contenders for Swale, Forward Gal
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The occasional standout has used the Swale and Forward Gal toward great things. Nobody is saying the same thing is happening Saturday at Gulfstream Park, but the point is that both seven-furlong races can be early season stepping-stones that prove highly useful as a 3-year-old campaign unfolds.
Easy Goer, Favorite Trick, and Lost In the Fog are among the prior winners of the Swale, while Open Mind, Forever Together, and Cathryn Sophia dot the roster of Forward Gal winners. Both are Grade 3, $100,000 races that precede the Holy Bull on a 12-race card that starts at noon Eastern.
Brad Cox, who last winter maintained a Florida string for the only time in his career, is represented in both races after shipping In Dreams in from Oaklawn Park for the Swale and Girl With a Dream in from Fair Grounds for the Forward Gal. Both horses figure among the favorites for their respective races.
The 36th Swale goes as race 5 (1:57 p.m.) and the 41st Forward Gal as race 8 (3:33).
Swale
In Dreams, with Irad Ortiz Jr. riding from post 5, has earned the highest Beyer Speed Figure (91) in the field of six colts and geldings in the Swale, but the fact Cox already has twice risked the Frosted colt for a claiming tag may have some bettors searching elsewhere. Moreover, his last-out score in an Oaklawn allowance came in the slop – the track should be fast Saturday – and he won’t be getting Lasix today because all 1/ST tracks ban the bleeder medication for stakes.
Of a Revolution (post 3, Tyler Gaffalione) is a viable option following a just-miss second with an 88 Beyer as the favorite in the Limehouse here five Saturdays ago. The Maclean’s Music colt “has trained really well into the race,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said.
“He’s a talented colt, and we think he has a good sprinting career ahead of him,” said Joseph. “Hopefully, he’ll give us another big performance.”
Joseph, the leading trainer at the championship meet, sent out Drain the Clock to win the Swale last year. He also wound up training the 2020 Swale winner, Mischevious Alex, who won this race when still with John Servis. Joseph won the Grade 1 Carter with Mischevious Alex last April.
Other contenders in a well-matched lineup include My Prankster (post 1, Luis Saez), whose Hall of Fame trainer, Todd Pletcher, won four races here last Saturday, including a sweep of the two Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup events. My Prankster was a rare 1-10 favorite Dec. 10 in his most recent start, an allowance win with an 88 Beyer.
Rounding out the cast are Graphic Detail, Dean Delivers, and Mr. Bouma.
The Swale honors the memory of the Claiborne Farm homebred who won the 1984 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
Forward Gal
Cox and Saez will team with Girl With a Dream, who breaks from post 6 in a field of seven fillies. The daughter of Practical Joke goes for a third straight victory following a Churchill Downs allowance win in November and a victory in the Letellier Memorial at Fair Grounds in late December.
This race, however, is her toughest assignment to date. Radio Days (post 5, Dylan Davis) is a primary reason, as she will try to stay unbeaten in three career starts after winning a Belmont maiden race and an Aqueduct allowance with Beyers of 82 and 83, highest in the Forward Gal field.
Radio Days has been training right along for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey at Payson Park, with five works since late December. The daughter of the red-hot sire Gun Runner was a $750,000 yearling purchase for the Allen Stable, managed by Alan Quartucci.
Other possibilities include Greatitude (post 2, Irad Ortiz Jr.), a last-out maiden winner at Gulfstream for Pletcher, and Diamond Wow (post 7, Ramsay Maragh), whose 2-for-3 record last year ended with a narrow defeat in the Grade 2 Jessamine going two turns on the Keeneland turf in mid-October.
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“We gave her a break and she has grown and developed well,” trainer Patrick Biancone said. “It’s a comeback race. She is not perhaps 100 percent yet, but it’s time to come back and prepare for the spring.”
She’s So Beautiful, Last Leaf, and Disco Ebo round out the cast.
The Forward Gal is named for the 2-year-old filly champion of 1970 trained by Jimmy Croll.