Layabout returns home for Showing Up Stakes
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Several trainers might thumb the scales with multiple horses in the $75,000 Showing Up Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, but Layabout may give Patrick Biancone the strongest chance in the deep field. The 3-year-old gelding will return to his home track after an ambitious trip to Kentucky Downs in September.
In the span of three months with Biancone, Layabout went from a maiden to a stakes winner when he rattled off three straight victories and won the $75,000 Bear’s Den by a neck in August. Encouraged by the stakes debut, Biancone decided to take a chance in the $2 million Gun Runner at Kentucky Downs the following month.
The Laoban gelding went off as a 21-1 longshot in the field of 14, but he closed from well back to finish fourth by 1 3/4 lengths.
“He ran really good at Kentucky Downs,” Biancone said. “He was a bit greenish, but he’s learning. I think he’s back where he really belongs.“
Layabout will break from the 12 post in the 1 1/16-mile turf race on Saturday. His most daunting rival may be Candytown, a colt shipping from New York for trainer Todd Pletcher. The improving runner won a $110,000 allowance at Saratoga on Aug. 30, for which he earned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure. The following month, he finished fourth in the $150,000 Gio Ponti at Aqueduct.
Of the trainers with multiple horses entered, Saffie Joseph Jr. leads the way with three. Back in the Saddle and Nemo will have to draw in as also-eligibles, but in the main field of 12, Assertiveness will make his first start since Joseph claimed him for $35,000 at Saratoga in August.
Mark Casse is not sure if English Law will run, but he said that he expects Day and Age to be “fairly tough” in his return to stakes company. After a valiant fourth at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 4, the colt stretched out to 1 1/16 miles and won a $134,000 allowance at Churchill Downs later that month.
Armed Forces
Casse described Behold the King as an “underachiever” through four starts, but he is still willing to give him a shot in the $75,000 Armed Forces Stakes. An unofficial winner in August, Casse was left to wait when the juvenile colt crossed the line first in his second start at Colonial Downs, only to be disqualified for bumping at the top of the stretch.
“You’re encouraged by his effort and disappointed by the result, but I didn’t worry too much about it,” Casse said. “To me, it was just a good start for him. It was an education and the good news is we got to run back in a maiden race. I think the more you can run and get experience, the better your horses end up being.”
It took two more tries for Behold the King to finally break through, but on Oct. 2 at Aqueduct, the Not This Time colt improved to win an $85,000 maiden special weight by a nose over next-out winner Chambersville. He will face winners for the first time at a mile on turf in the Armed Forces.
Pletcher has the other two key contenders in the field, including Teleport, who finished seventh in the Grade 2 Pilgrim at Aqueduct in his second start on Oct. 3. His stablemate Sunrise made his stakes debut in the $125,000 Laurel Futurity in September, but he struggled to overcome a troubled trip and also finished seventh.
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