Hawthorne: Mavericking uses late surge to take Buck's Boy Handicap

Mavericking continued to return dividends on a $30,000 claim three months ago when he emerged from a pack of four horses racing on even terms in deep stretch to win Saturday’s $100,000 Buck’s Boy Handicap at Hawthorne.

The race, originally scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf, was moved to a main track rated good, resulting in five scratches. The surface switch appeared unfavorable to Mavericking ($7.40), whose last appearance on dirt this past April resulted in a ninth-place finish in a similar stakes for Illinois-breds at Hawthorne.

The Buck’s Boy was wide open with four runners across the track at the three-sixteenths pole. The 5-year-old Mavericking, ridden by Seth Martinez, drew clear late to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Luv Bandit finished second as the even-money favorite. Dad Are We Here finished third at 6-1. The winning time was 1:46.85.

Mavericking was able to win despite stumbling at the top of the stretch. But he regained his footing and began to close quickly to launch his successful rally from fourth.

“When I went to shift him out at the top of the lane he kind of lugged in at the same time I wanted to shift out and he kind of caught that heel,” said Martinez, who had not ridden Mavericking since a sixth-place finish in the Black Tie Affair at Arlington in June.

It was the second straight win for Mavericking since he was acquired by trainer Roger Brueggemann on behalf of Scarlet Stable on Aug. 2. His previous win came against open company going a mile on turf. Overall, Mavericking has now won 6 of 31 starts and $268,349.