Gulfstream Park: Little Mike works toward Manhattan as first major target

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Little Mike moved closer to his 2014 debut after working six furlongs in 1:15.81 shortly after the first renovation break Friday at Gulfstream Park.

With regular exercise rider Faustino Orantes aboard, Little Mike broke off at the five-eighths pole, went in 1:02.82 to the wire, and easily completed the work into the turn before galloping out seven-eighths in 1:28.34.

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“We wanted an easy six furlongs and that’s exactly what we got,” said owner-trainer Carlo Vaccarezza. “Faustino did a perfect job. Although he races on grass, I have been working him on the dirt because I think he gets more out of it – it gets him fitter quicker – although he came to me with a great bottom from J.J. Crupi’s farm this winter and has always been a fit horse throughout his career.”

Little Mike, winner of both the Breeders’ Cup Turf and Arlington Million in 2012, has not started since finishing ninth, beaten just four lengths, in the Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin on Dec. 8. The 7-year-old Little Mike has earned nearly $3.5 million, all for Vaccarezza and his wife, Priscilla, and has 13 victories in 28 career starts.

Vaccarezza said he wanted to run Little Mike in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs, “but that would be rushing him too much.”

Instead, Vaccarezza said he is hoping to get a race for Little Mike at Gulfstream on Kentucky Derby Day and then point him for the Manhattan Handicap at Belmont on June 7.

Little Mike was trained by Dale Romans through the end of his 2013 campaign but is being conditioned by his owner for the first time this season. Vaccarezza is eagerly looking forward to starting Little Mike in his own name as trainer for the first time this spring.

“It will be a phenomenal feeling,” said Vaccarezza, who also has a couple of top 3-year-old prospects in his barn in Little Daddy and Little Alexis. “This horse has been so good to me and my family. I am very grateful for what Dale did for me and this horse and I will never forget that. But it will make things even more special for me when Mike runs here in my name with my wife and my kids and all our friends in attendance.”

Vaccarezza reported that the fund-raiser held at his restaurant, Frank & Dino’s, last Monday for the Disabled Jockey Fund netted more than $32,000 for the charity. Among the guests of honor at the dinner was former rider Rene Douglas, who was left paralyzed in a spill at Arlington Park several years ago.