Drain the Clock, My Prankster post hard-fought victories
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A couple of prohibitive favorites, Drain the Clock and My Prankster, had to work a lot harder than most expected before posting well-earned allowance victories Friday at Gulfstream Park.
Grade 1 winner Drain the Clock engaged in a near race-long duel with Gatsby before ultimately posting a hard-fought half-length victory as the 2-5 favorite in Friday’s seventh race, a $62,000 optional-claiming and allowance dash for older horses. Two hours earlier, My Prankster had to be hard-ridden for the final three furlongs of a $61,000, entry-level allowance test for 2-year-olds before finally wearing down the pacesetting Little Vic and prevailing by a similar margin as an even more overwhelming 1-5 choice.
Both races were decided at six furlongs, Drain the Clock completing the distance in a lively 1:08.62, My Prankster covering the same route in 1:09.02 over the fast track.
Drain the Clock, making his first start since finishing a tiring fourth behind Jackie’s Warrior and Life Is Good in the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens at Saratoga, completed his 3-year-old campaign with five wins in eight starts and earnings of more than $600,000.
“I’m happy,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “Normally when I watch a race I’m very nervous, but with him [Drain the Clock] I never thought he would get beat. Not from that position. For a comeback race, for him to go 1:08 and three, I know the track is fast but I don’t think they have gone 1:08 around here in a long time. If they have, there haven’t been many. That was a good comeback race because I don’t think we had him fully cranked.”
Joseph said Drain the Clock is not likely to run back again for a couple of months, with the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint on Feb. 19 the likely goal.
My Prankster closed his 2-year-old season with two wins in four starts, including a second-place finish in the Bowman Mill Stakes at Keeneland and a distant fourth-place effort in the Grade 1 Champagne.
“I’m really happy with his race,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I was hoping to land in a cozy spot, but we ran into a pretty nice horse [Little Vic] and I was pleased the way he kept coming and got the job done.”