Giocoso looks primed for an upset score in Secretariat
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Since Confidence Game upset the Rebel Stakes in February 2023, Bear River is the only horse trained by Keith Desormeaux to win a stakes. He’s won three, including a $250,000 turf sprint last weekend at Ellis Park, but Giocoso can join him as a stable co-star in the Secretariat Stakes on Saturday at Colonial Downs.
Giocoso and seven others contest the $500,000 Secretariat, during its heyday a Grade 1 over 1 1/4 miles at Arlington Park, run for the last two years at one mile at Colonial Downs, its current Grade 2 status in jeopardy based on Saturday’s field, which includes just one graded stakes winner.
That’s Dream On, who, through a mixture of good fortune and good management, has won four races and nearly $500,000. Dream On’s baseline Beyer Speed Figure falls into the high 70s range, typically too low to win prizes like he’s landed his last two starts, the Grade 3 Penn Mile in June and even the $125,000 Woodhaven in April.
Dream On did get a 90 Beyer finishing third in the Summer Stakes at Woodbine, but that’s at least an outlier, if not a suspect figure: The horses exiting the Summer subsequently have combined to go 1 for 16 in turf races. To the credit of Dream On and the stable of trainer Mark Casse, the blocky, game colt has evolved from a front-end type as a 2-year-old to a 3-year-old capable of coming from last of five to win the Penn Mile. He did get a perfect trip in so doing, and for the second straight race caught a course with give in the ground that Dream On apparently enjoys.
Firmer turf will be found in the Secretariat, where the pace scenario looks mushy: Maui Strong’s the only entrant with a TimeformUS early pace rating over 100, and only in the most recent of his eight route races did Maui Strong make an early lead. Maui Strong, scratched from a Thursday allowance at Saratoga (as was Secretariat entrant Anegada), figures to set the pace, with recent Colonial allowance race winner Antisocial tracking him.
Simulate ought not fall far behind after showing improved positional pace that led to a perfect pocket trip in a last-start Saratoga first-level turf route allowance tally. While Simulate – Junior Alvarado riding for Bill Mott – did capitalize on favorable circumstances, he also turned in a good-looking final furlong, unfurling a long, reaching stride pulling clear to a 2 1/4-length score.
Cairo Caper on three instances has proven Dream On’s inferior, while trainer Graham Motion believes End of Romance, who beat older allowance horses last out at Delaware, wants more distance than one mile. End of Romance is a half-brother to the Hong Kong star Romantic Warrior, best between nine and 10 furlongs.
Giocoso is best on turf, as he showed winning twice in Kentucky as a 2-year-old. Desormeaux and owner Rocker O Ranch led Giocoso to the head of the Triple Crown trail this winter, reversing course after a 12th on dirt in the Risen Star at Fair Grounds and a modest fifth in the Jeff Ruby over Turfway’s Tapeta. Back on turf in May, Giocoso fell much too far behind a moderate pace in the Grade 1 American Turf, finishing fastest from 11th to nab fifth. Zulu Kingdom and Test Score, the current leaders of the division, finished first and second in that race, and Ben Curtis, who rides back Saturday, got a feel for Giocoso in the American Turf.
Bear River at 17-1 got it done last weekend for the Desormeaux barn. Now it’s Giocoso’s turn, and probably at another appealing price.
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