Gulfstream Park: Neck 'n Neck gets sharpener in Harlan's Holiday

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Life in the handicap division without Fort Larned begins Sunday for trainer Ian Wilkes when he sends out Neck ’n Neck against a strong group in the $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Neck ’n Neck will have some big shoes to fill trying to replace Fort Larned, who won the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic and was retired to stud last month shortly after finishing fourth in defense of that title. Neck ’n Neck, who won three graded stakes last year at 3, will be making just his second start of the year in the 1 1/16-mile Harlan’s Holiday after being sidelined for 11 months recuperating from a fractured sesamoid discovered after his easy victory last November in the Grade 3 Ack Ack.

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“Obviously, we’re not going to try to compare him to Fort Larned,” Wilkes said of Neck ’n Neck. “He has already won a Grade 2 and he’s got to come back to that level and get a little better if he’s going to be up there at the top of the handicap division this year.”

Neck ’n Neck finished a late-running third when launching his comeback in the Schaefer Memorial at Indiana Downs on Oct. 5, after which Wilkes had trouble finding a suitable spot for his next start.

“I thought his first start back was very good,” Wilkes said. “He had to go a little wide on the final turn and only got beat a length. But it’s been a while since he’s run again. He’s fit, now he’s got to get race sharp and into a rhythm. This is a good spot to get him going for the new year.”

Neck ’n Neck will break from the rail in the Harlan’s Holiday with two of his chief rivals, Csaba and Bourbon Courage, breaking directly outside him in posts 2 and 3.

Csaba is the defending Harlan’s Holiday champ, having rallied to an easy 3 3/4-length decision for the second of four consecutive stakes wins he registered last fall and winter at Calder and Gulfstream. He appears to have rounded back to that same form again this fall, posting easy victories in his last two starts, including a 1 1/4-length decision just 15 days earlier in defense of his title in Calder’s Grade 3 Fred Hooper Handicap.

Bourbon Courage will get some class relief Sunday after finishing fourth behind Will Take Charge and Game On Dude in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs four weeks earlier. Bourbon Courage, who finished second here last winter in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap, will wear blinkers for the first time in the Harlan’s Holiday.

“He seems to really relax during the early stages of his races,” trainer Kellyn Gorder said. “He dropped pretty far off the pace and had a lot of work to do against some very good horses in the Clark. We breezed him a couple of times at Palm Meadows in blinkers, and he went well. Hopefully, they’ll help him keep a little closer to the pace.”

River Seven has never been better, although he has had the bulk of his success on grass and synthetic surfaces, with the Harlan’s Holiday marking only his second start on dirt. River Seven rallied to defeat Frac Daddy by a half-length to capture the Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf at Churchill Downs in his last start. He finished a close second behind Uncaptured in his only dirt outing, which came this past summer at Fort Erie.

Sr. Quisqueyano, Purple Egg, and Reveron should help assure a legitimate pace, with longshot Joshua’s Comprise rounding out the field.