Discreet Lover in rare favorite's role for Excelsior

Discreet Lover had a remarkable 2018 campaign, winning the Grade 3 Excelsior and Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and finishing third in the Grade 1 Whitney and Grade 2 Suburban. His odds in those races were 7-1, 45-1, 38-1, and 41-1.

Following his annual winter vacation, Discreet Lover will command far more respect Saturday when he shoots for a repeat victory in the $150,000 Excelsior at Aqueduct following a five-month break from the races. The 1 1/8-mile Excelsior has drawn a field of eight older horses, with Hit It Once More cross-entered in a no-conditions allowance race at Parx Racing.

The question Discreet Lover must answer is, Can he win off a layoff? The past three years he has been beaten in his season openers. He also lost his career debut.

Discreet Lover has developed into a once-in-a-lifetime horse for owner-trainer Uriah St. Lewis, who operates a family stable at Parx. St. Lewis purchased the 6-year-old son of Repent for $10,000 at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale in Maryland, and Discreet Lover has since gone 7 for 45 and earned more than $1.4 million, with 2018 being his best season by far.

St. Lewis believes the six workouts he has given Discreet Lover since early February have him ready for Saturday.

“He’s as fit as I can get him,” St. Lewis said. “Last year off the layoff he ran third to Something Awesome in a stakes in Maryland, but I didn’t train him as hard as I have this time. I want him to win and then we’ll move on from there.”

Expect Discreet Lover to drop well back early in the Excelsior and come running in the stretch, just as he did a year ago when he pulled away to win by 2 1/2 lengths. Manny Franco will ride Discreet Lover for the eighth straight race.

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Tour de Force and Life’s a Parlay are likely to set the fractions. Tour de Force will be making his first start for Rudy Rodriguez, who claimed him for $62,500 on Feb. 2. Life’s a Parlay, who is 3 for 5 in his career and trained by Todd Pletcher, won a second-level optional claimer March 16 at Oaklawn Park in his 4-year-old debut.

Monongahela fits well in this field for trainer Jason Servis, but he rarely wins. As he has been known to do, the 5-year-old has finished second in his last three starts – the John B. Campbell at Laurel Park, the Queens County at Aqueduct, and the Swatara at Penn National. He was beaten a combined 1 1/2 lengths in those starts and now has a career record of 5-10-2 in 21 races.

Shivermetimbers has been transferred to Steve Asmussen after making his first 15 starts for Jerry Hollendorfer, who shipped him to Aqueduct for the March 8 Stymie. Shivermetimbers appeared to brush the side of the gate at the start and was away sluggishly. He raced last to the stretch in the eight-horse field, then finished with interest to end up third, beaten 7 3/4 lengths by winner Vino Rosso.