Maker, Pletcher running the barn on Pegasus Day
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There is no shortage of quality turf horses in trainer Mike Maker’s barn these days, and a good many of them will be participating in the two most important grass races on Saturday’s card, the $1 million Pegasus Turf Invitational and the Grade 3, $200,000 W.L. McKnight.
Maker will run both Henley’s Joy and Zulu Alpha in the 1 3/16-mile Pegasus Turf. On Monday, he said he plans to enter four of the 12 horses he nominated for the 1 1/2-mile McKnight – Apreciado, Carom, Marzo, and Temple – in search of his fourth consecutive victory in the event. Entries for Saturday’s Pegasus program were to be drawn Wednesday.
Henley’s Joy, 4, will be making his first start against older horses in the Pegasus Turf and first since an eighth-place finish Nov. 30 in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby. Henley’s Joy won just once during his 3-year-old campaign, but that victory was a big one, a three-quarter-length triumph over Social Paranoia in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby.
“It’s a tough spot to get his 4-year-old campaign started, but he’s training well and the distance really suits him, maybe a lot better than some of the other horses in this field,” Maker said. “Hopefully, he’ll draw well. That’s my one concern.”
Zulu Alpha, claimed by Maker for $80,000 out of a win 16 months ago at Churchill Downs, continues to get better with age. He banked more than $1.1 million as a 6-year-old last season, winning three graded stakes, including both the McKnight and Grade 2 Mac Diarmida over the local turf course. Zulu Alpha has been freshened since rallying from last to finish fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, less than two lengths behind 2019 Pegasus Turf winner Bricks and Mortar.
“The time off we gave him after the Breeders’ Cup has really been good for him – he couldn’t be doing any better,” Maker said. “Obviously, turning back in distance is a concern, but he seems a bit sharper to me now coming in fresh. And he really likes this course.”
Zulu Alpha turned in his final prep for the Pegasus Turf on Monday, breezing an easy half-mile over the main track in 49.76 seconds.
Marzo is the most accomplished of the Maker quartet pointing to the McKnight, having won the Grade 3 Sycamore last fall at Keeneland. Temple also is a stakes winner and exits a troubled third-place finish in the Tropical Park Derby. Apreciado was claimed for $16,000 last February and has since won three races, including two allowance races, and comes off a second in the Claiming Crown Emerald here. Carom was claimed for $50,000 in October and in two subsequent starts has won an allowance race on turf and finished fourth in the H. Allen Jerkens, which was taken off the turf and run on the main track here.
Others likely to run in the McKnight are American Tattoo, Cross Border, Prince of Arabia, Pumpkin Rumble, Red Knight, Salute the Colonel, Shazier, Spooky Channel, and Tiz a Slam, according to stakes coordinator Eric Friedman.
A full field of 12 is expected to be entered Wednesday for the Pegasus Turf, including Admission Office, Arklow, Channel Cat, Instilled Regard, Magic Wand, Mo Forza, Next Shares, Sacred Life, Sadler’s Joy, and Without Parole.
Channel Cat is among a large contingent from trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn who’ll be competing on Saturday’s Pegasus Day program. Channel Cat, like Zulu Alpha, is more accomplished around three turns than two. Channel Cat finished seventh rallying from near the rear of the field in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. His 2019 campaign was highlighted by a victory in the Grade 2 Bowling Green and third-place finishes in the United Nations and Sword Dancer, both Grade 1 events.
Channel Cat prepped for the Pegasus with a third-place finish as the 2-1 favorite turning back to 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale here Dec. 14.
“I thought he ran pretty well at a mile and one-eighth,” Pletcher said. “He had a little bit of a wide trip. Hopefully, he’ll draw a little bit of an inside post and we can save a little ground, and I think the extra sixteenth of a mile will help. My main concern is that I really think he’s at his best at a mile and three-eighths, a mile and one-half, but we’ll give it a shot. A mile and three-sixteenths is a bit of a tricky business, but hopefully it’s a little more to his liking.”
Pletcher also will be represented on Saturday by Nonna Madeline in the Grade 2 Inside Information; Zenden in the Grade 3 Fred Hooper; American Tattoo making his turf debut in the McKnight; and Atomic Blonde in the South Beach.