Forego top three rematched in Big Daddy Stakes
Candy Overload, Here Mi Song, and Night Time, separated by less than a length while making up the trifecta in the Forego last month at Turfway Park, get a rematch in the $125,000 Big Daddy Stakes, the Saturday night feature at the Florence, Ky., track.
The Big Daddy is for older horses going six furlongs on the Tapeta, while the Feb. 4. Forego was run at 6 1/2 furlongs. Candy Overload made a five-wide run to win by a half-length over Here Mi Song. Night Time was a nose back in third.
Candy Overload, a Grade 2 winner on Woodbine’s synthetic main track last year, and Night Time, who has not missed the board in three outings at Turfway this meet, are both late-runners who will need some pace to develop up front. That pace could be provided by Pole Setter, who led through the first half-mile of the Forego before fading to eighth, and Nobody Listens, who set the pace at Oaklawn Park in his most recent outing before fading to third. Stakes-placed Nobody Listens earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100 in a front-running allowance score two starts back at Horseshoe Indianapolis and is the only member of this field to sport a triple-digit figure. The top three in the Forego earned figures of 91, 90, and 90, respectively.
The consistent Here Mi Song also is usually a late-running sprinter, but he has shown speed at times. He won an allowance sprint on the lead in 2021 and led in the stretch of a one-mile allowance race at Churchill Downs in November before being caught at the wire by graded stakes winner Mr. Wireless. Here Mi Song was second in last year’s Big Daddy to Visitant, a since-retired Turfway specialist.
Bad Beat Brian has won seven races, all on turf, including a stakes sprint at Gulfstream in 2021. He ran fourth in his two most-recent races, both optional-claiming sprints on the Turfway Tapeta.
Anaconda is a stakes-placed turf sprinter making his first start on a synthetic surface.
Detroit City, an allowance winner this season on Gulfstream’s synthetic track, has shown tactical speed and could work out a stalking trip from his outside post.
Gun It completes the field. The gelding was fifth in a January allowance/optional-claiming race won by Night Time in his only start at Turfway.
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