Extravagant Kid opens 9-year-old season in allowance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Extravagant Kid significantly added to both his earnings and frequent flyer mile accounts in 2021. He will launch what his connections can only hope to be as successful a campaign as last year’s when he takes on seven rivals, including Shekky Shebaz, as the solid favorite in Wednesday’s $62,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park, for 4-year-olds and up going five furlongs on the turf.

Extravagant Kid raced all over the world in 2021, with his lone triumph on the year coming in the Group 1, $1 million Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan in Dubai. From there he journeyed to England, finishing third in the Group 1 King’s Stand at Ascot and 14th in the Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket. His season also included a second-place effort in the Grade 2 Woodford at Keeneland, a ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, and a second-place finish in the Janus Stakes here on Dec. 31. His 2021 season began, oddly enough, with a second-place effort in the Janus here on New Year’s Day.

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Overall, Extravagant Kid wound up banking more than $751,000 in 2021.

“It was an unbelievable year and he’s a remarkable horse to do what he did during the season,” trainer Brendan Walsh said.

Extravagant Kid, 9, has made 12 of his 55 starts over the local strip, winning three times here while in the money on nine occasions. In the most recent of his two second-place finishes in the Janus, Extravagant Kid raced mid-pack before moving to within striking distance of the leader at midstretch, but could not gain ground thereafter on front-running winner Carotari.

Shekky Shebaz also has experience on the big stage, having finished third in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He joined trainer Christophe Clement’s barn during the spring of 2020, was claimed by trainer Wayne Potts for $80,000 out of a second-place finish last summer at Saratoga, and returns with Clement for Wednesday’s main event. Shekky Shebaz looks to snap a nine-race winless streak that dates back to his victory in the Claiming Crown Canterbury here in December 2019.

“He’s back in our barn again for the winter and we’re very happy to have him,” Clement said on Monday. “He’ll never regain the form of his younger days, but he’s training well. This race came up on paper a very good race, but as long as the ground comes up firm, he should be competitive. He should give a very good account of himself.”

Harry’s Ontheloose, who returns to turf following a sixth on Tapeta in a starter allowance here, is another major player in a lineup that also includes Like What I See, Embolden, Elusive Mischief, Kasim, and Natural Power.