Injured jockey Maragh returns to racing aboard Sky Blazer

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Rajiv Maragh, who suffered a broken right arm when he was unseated from Wicked Strong during the running of the Jockey Club Gold Cup nearly four months ago, returns to the saddle Friday aboard the veteran turf specialist Sky Blazer in the afternoon’s featured ninth race.

Maragh spent almost three months in therapy rehabbing his arm before starting to get on horses again two weeks ago at Palm Meadows.

He reunites with Sky Blazer, whom he guided to a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Bowling Green Handicap early last summer at Belmont Park.

“I’m really excited to finally be back,” Maragh said Wednesday. “The last month, I’ve done a lot of exercises designed to get the strength back in my right arm before finally getting back on horses again a couple of weeks ago. I began jogging, then galloping, and now I’m up to working an average of four horses a day.”

Maragh said it just so happened his return coincided with Sky Blazer’s 2015 debut Friday.

“His connections mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago that he was running on the 16th, although at the time, I wasn’t certain exactly when I’d be ready to ride,” said Maragh. “But I kept feeling better and stronger every day, and once I knew I was ready to get started again, he was the first horse on my radar. I worked him last week at Palm Meadows. He went really well, and this spot seems like an ideal situation for him with all the speed in the race. It sure would be great to come back and win on him right off the bat.”

Along with getting on horses every morning at Palm Meadows, Maragh also has spent plenty of time looking in on the two big horses in his arsenal, Wicked Strong and Main Sequence. Maragh has been Wicked Strong’s regular rider since guiding him to victory in the Wood Memorial last spring. He also was aboard for Wicked Strong’s triumph in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and near miss later last summer at Saratoga in the Travers.

Maragh was perfect in three trips with Main Sequence, winning the United Nations, Sword Dancer, and Turf Classic Invitational, all Grade 1 races, aboard the Horse of the Year candidate before being forced to miss the Breeders’ Cup Turf due to his injury.

John Velazquez filled in for Maragh in the Breeders’ Cup, winning by a half-length over Flintshire.

“Both horses are looking great, and seeing them every day really picked my chin up and certainly gave me added incentive to get back as soon as I could,” said Maragh, who’ll ride out the remainder of the winter at Gulfstream.

Sunshine Millions Classic comes up light

Despite being opened up to New York-, Pennsylvania-, and Maryland-breds, along with Florida-breds, Saturday’s Sunshine Millions Classic drew a compact, albeit competitive, field of only six horses, led by Transparent, Wildcat Red, and East Hall. The remainder of the lineup includes Catholic Cowboy, Sr. Quisqueyano, and I’m Steppin’ It Up.

The Sunshine Sprint also came up light, luring just seven speedsters, with Happy My Way and Weekend Hideaway likely to vie for favoritism. They’ll face Brothersofthetime, Yogi Berra, Sam Sparkle, Puntrooskie, and Grande Shores.

Saturday’s card also will feature the $100,000 Sunshine Millions Distaff, Sunshine Millions Turf, and Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf.

Strike Tone scores for McLaughlin

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin’s potent stable struck again in Wednesday’s opener with the good-looking first-time starter Strike Tone, who narrowly outlasted Steel Sky to win his debut going 1 1/16-miles on the turf under jockey Julien Leparoux. Strike Tone is a 4-year-old son of Street Cry owned by Godolphin Racing.

“He didn’t get to us from Dubai until last summer,” said McLaughlin. “He had some issues when he was younger, although I’m not really sure what they were. But he’s trained very well and is a very classy horse who seems a little better on turf than dirt. He was still a little green out there today. He’ll learn a lot from this race. I’m not sure where we’ll run him next, but I wouldn’t rule out the chance he could try the dirt at some point.”