International Star ending two-year layoff

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – For those of you who may have thought International Star had been retired to stud or something, think again. The 7-year-old horse is in the Thursday entries at Gulfstream Park, nearly two years since his most recent start – and nearly four years since being scratched on the morning of the 2015 Kentucky Derby.

“Bout time we got him back,” trainer Mike Maker said.

Owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, International Star will have Jose Ortiz aboard when he makes his eagerly awaited comeback in a $53,000 allowance with hybrid conditions. The 1 1/16-mile turf race drew 11 older horses, including two main-track-only entrants, with Ticonderoga returning from a seven-month layoff as the likely favorite for Chad Brown, assuming the race stays on the grass.

Four years ago at this time, International Star was at the peak of his career. The New York-bred son of Fusaichi Pegasus already had won the Lecomte and Risen Star and was just a couple weeks from winning a third straight Kentucky Derby prep at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, the Louisiana Derby.

For his next start, International Star was all set to wear saddlecloth No. 12 in the 141st Kentucky Derby on May 2, 2015, but a foot bruise led to him being scratched on the morning of a race ultimately won by the Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. The disappointment was one that Ken Ramsey called “one of the biggest I’ve ever had” in some 50 years of owning racehorses.

The injury precluded International Star from racing until the following November, when he was a well-beaten fourth in the Zia Park Derby as the 13-10 favorite. He then proceeded to have five races as a 4-year-old in 2016, winning once, then three more starts as a 5-year-old of 2017, ending with zero wins but a respectable third-place finish behind Bird Song in the Grade 2 Alysheba on the Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs.

“He had a minor injury after the Alysheba, so we had to give him some time,” Maker said. “He came back into training the following spring (2018) and was working right along,” first at the Mercury Equine Center in Lexington, Ky., then at the Trackside training center in Louisville, Ky.

“But then he got pretty sick on us just when we were ready to run him last fall.”

Daily Racing Form records show the following timed workouts for International Star since May 2018: 10 at Mercury; three at Trackside, all in October; and, following a two-month break, 10 more at Gulfstream after being assimilated into Maker’s sizable contingent in Barn 21 here in December. The most recent was a five-furlong breeze last Thursday in 1:01.80.

“He’s doing super,” Maker said. “I don’t know if we can beat Chad’s horse, but I’ve got him about as ready as I can.”

Whereas International Star, an earner of $1,247,029, has not raced on turf since he was a 2-year-old of 2014 – he won his career debut sprinting on the Belmont Park turf and finished second to Startup Nation in the Grade 2 With Anticipation on the Saratoga turf – Ticonderoga has done his best work over that surface, with a victory in the Grade 3 Palm Beach here two years ago being his most noteworthy feat.

Owned by the Woodford Racing partnership led by Bill Farish, Ticonderoga was last seen by the racing public in a turf allowance at Saratoga last August, prevailing as the 1-2 favorite. The 5-year-old horse by Tapit has had 11 works since Dec. 31 at the Palm Meadows training center for Brown, the reigning three-time champion trainer in the United States.

The Thursday feature goes as the ninth of 10 races and is part of a Rainbow 6 sequence that spans races 5-10. The only other allowance of the day is the opener, a $52,000, second-level turf sprint in which Christophe Clement has a pair of major contenders in Really Proud and Factorofwon among a field of six fillies and mares. First post is 1:15 p.m. Eastern.

The Rainbow 6 jackpot stood at $1,353,381 when a five-day race week began here Wednesday. Gulfstream officials have said they do not expect to hold a forceout of the pool until March 31, closing day of the four-month championship meet.