Lucky Lee possible for Mucho Macho Man in January

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Maximus Mischief, impressive winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct, isn’t the only 3-year-old his owner, Cash is King Stable, will have stabled in South Florida this winter with an eye toward a possible start in the 2019 Kentucky Derby.

Cash is King also owns Lucky Lee, a son of Flatter who has won his last two starts by a combined 11 1/2 lengths, both going a mile at Parx Racing. The most recent effort came on Nov. 17, when Lucky Lee received an 88 Beyer Speed Figure.

While Maximus Mischief will be stabled with trainer Butch Reid Jr. at Gulfstream Park, Lucky Lee is bedded down at the Palm Meadows training center with his trainer, John Servis. Lucky Lee and stablemate Gates of Dawn are among the 23 juveniles nominated to Saturday’s $75,000 Smooth Air Stakes here, although Servis said he doesn’t plan to enter either.

“Lucky Lee likely won’t run again until next year,” said Servis, who is scheduled to return to Palm Meadows on Tuesday. “He just got down there about five days ago. I’ll probably breeze him this weekend. I think he’s a really good horse, one who’ll definitely go farther than a mile. Potentially a Derby horse. That’s what we’ll have to find out.”

Servis said the one-mile Mucho Macho Man could be a possible option for Lucky Lee’s 3-year-old debut here Jan. 5.

Servis does plan to have one starter in the six 2-year-old stakes that share top billing on Saturday’s card along with the five Clasico del Caribe Internacional races.

“I’m going to run Stormy D in the Wait a While,” said Servis, referring to a race carded at one mile on the turf. “Hopefully we’ll be luckier with the weather than we have been with her. I shipped her up to New York to run in two stakes up there last month and both were taken off the grass.”

Stormy D, owned by D J Stable and Aron Yagoda, finished sixth, beaten 27 lengths, launching her career going six furlongs on the dirt here Aug. 16. She switched to turf and won her second start by a neck stretching out to a mile five weeks later.

“After she ran so dismally the first time I didn’t know what to expect,” said Servis, who has 24 horses at Palm Meadows and another 57 at Parx. “But I got a chance to breeze her on the grass after that race. She impressed. I always felt she wanted more ground, and obviously her second start was a big improvement.