Gulfstream Park notes: Holy Bull Stakes contenders tune up

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – General a Rod and Conquest Titan worked Saturday in preparation for the Grade 2, $400,000 Holy Bull Stakes next Saturday.

General a Rod, who is at Gulfstream Park, worked five furlongs in 59.40 seconds, with an opening three-eighths in 35.60 and a final quarter in 23.80. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.80.

Conquest Titan, at the Palm Meadows training center, worked five furlongs in 1:02.30 for trainer Mark Casse. He finished 13th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile but rebounded with an allowance win at Churchill Downs, defeating General a Rod, who subsequently won the Gulfstream Park Derby on Jan. 1.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

Reload finds home on turf

Trainer Shug McGaughey said he thinks he’s finally found a home on turf for Reload, who was a front-running winner of a third-level allowance race going 1 1/16 miles Friday under Javier Castellano. It was the first grass start for Reload, a 5-year-old son of Hard Spun, after 15 prior races, all on dirt or synthetic tracks.

“We always thought he had ability. He’d show it every now and then,” McGaughey said. “We worked him on the turf last winter, and he didn’t impress us much, so we took that off the table.”

[Clocker Reports: Get Mike Welsch’s clocker reports from Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows]

Reload won sprinting on Polytrack at Keeneland in his 2013 debut, then won a second-level allowance at Belmont Park before tailing off, losing four straight and never finishing in the money.

When Reload returned this winter to the Payson Park training center, McGaughey said he asked his assistant there, Robbie Medina, to give Reload another try training on turf, and this time, he seemed to take to it, with three recent works that all were the best at the distance on those days.
“He had worked well, and he showed it,” McGaughey said after the race.

Mexikoma making progress

Mexikoma, sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, worked a half-mile in 48.70 seconds Thursday at Palm Meadows, his third drill since arriving here for the winter, as he progresses toward his 2014 debut.

Barry Irwin, whose Team Valor International owns Mexikoma, said the horse finished well in the work, with his final three furlongs in 12.20, 12.20, and 11.60.

“He looks good,” Irwin said. “He’s not a big, stout horse. After the Breeders’ Cup, he was a little sore behind for three weeks, but he’s over that now, and he’s doing well.”

Mexikoma, trained by Rick Mettee, has any number of options when ready to race, ranging from stakes to a first-level allowance race. His lone win was a runaway against maidens at Delaware in September in his second lifetime start.

Another well-regarded Team Valor runner, the older horse Brujo de Olleros, worked five furlongs Saturday in 1:00.25 at Palm Meadows. He most recently finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

At Palm Meadows on Saturday, other stakes horses who worked included Grade 1 winners Stephanie’s Kitten (three furlongs in 37.75) and Alpha (a half-mile in 49.65).