Gargan confident abour Venezuelan Hug's chances in Canadian Turf

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Danny Gargan was leaning against running Tax on the big Saturday card at Gulfstream Park, but the garrulous trainer still will have one of his most successful claims in action.

Gargan was considering Tax for either the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile or the Grade 3 Canadian Turf as entries were being taken Wednesday for the Fountain of Youth undercard, with a race the following Saturday, the Grade 3 Challenger at Tampa Bay Downs, being yet another option. Gargan has enjoyed quite a ride already with Tax, a 5-year-old gelding who amassed the vast majority of his $982,060 bankroll after Gargan claimed him for $50,000 in October 2018.

Aside from the fence-straddling, Gargan definitely intends to saddle Venezuelan Hug for the Canadian Turf, one of eight graded races that will precede the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on a 14-race card starting at 11:30 a.m. Eastern. Venezuelan Hug is doing his level best to follow in the hoofsteps of Tax, having won five of seven starts since Gargan took him for $40,000 last March.

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“He’s got to be super-live in this race Saturday, I’d think,” said Gargan, who began this week winning at a 36-percent clip (20 for 55) this winter, with his stable split between Florida and New York. “He is really doing good.”

Venezuelan Hug, a 4-year-old Florida-bred, was soundly defeated both times he was tried in graded stakes, but Gargan believes the gray Constitution colt has come to peak form. In his last start, Venezuelan Hug was along in time to win the Sunshine Turf versus statebreds.

“His works and the way he’s trained, I think he’s ready for these horses,” said Gargan. “I think he’s that kind of horse.”

Fancy Liquor, Winters Back, and Monarchs Glen were among the older horses expected to face Venezuelan Hug in the $125,000 Canadian Turf, one of six turf stakes on the day. The others are the Mac Diarmida, the The Very One, and the Honey Fox, all for older horses, and the Palm Beach and Herecomesthebride, both for 3-year-olds.