Intimidate easily transitions to dirt in King Glorious

CYPRESS, Calif. – He can run on dirt and at a mile.

The California-bred colt Intimidate won his first stakes in Saturday’s $100,000 King Glorious Stakes for 2-year-olds at Los Alamitos, racing away from Golden Gate Fields, and its synthetic surface, for the first time.

“Now, we have a few things answered,” said winning trainer Bob Hess Sr.

Ridden by Mike Smith, Intimidate ($10) led or disputed the pace throughout and won by 1 1/4 lengths after a stretch-long duel with 7-1 Lucky Romano. At times in the final quarter-mile, it appeared Lucky Romano would take command of the race, and he did lead briefly in the stretch, but Smith coaxed more out of Intimidate, who finished a mile in 1:38.76.

“Mike rode him to perfection,” Hess said.

Campaigner, a 5-1 shot, finished third, followed by Minoso, Royal Trump, Bookies Luck, and Oh Man.

Bookies Luck, the 6-5 favorite, raced wide on the first turn and on the backstretch and faded from contention in the final three furlongs. Bookies Luck had won stakes here in September and the Golden State Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 4 in his two previous starts.

Lucky Romano, racing as a gelding for the first time, left trainer Mark Glatt impressed with the effort, and looking toward 2018. Lucky Romano was third behind Bookies Luck in the Golden State Juvenile.

Glatt said Lucky Romano should be more patient in future races with two-turn experience.

“Maybe he was a little bit keen on the backstretch when he was pulling more than I would have liked to have seen,” Glatt said. “He’ll probably back off that.

“His mannerisms were better as a first-time gelding. I thought he might have had that horse collared but he couldn’t get by him.”

Intimidate, by Vronsky, has won 3 of 4 starts and earned $99,640. Owned by James Eaton, Maria Hess and breeder Don Muldoon, Intimidate won his first two starts in a maiden race and an optional claimer at Golden Gate Fields before finishing a troubled sixth in the Golden Nugget Stakes at six furlongs on Nov. 11.

Those races were at six furlongs on the Tapeta Footings synthetic track at Golden Gate Fields.