Marwad stays home looking for a win

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Marwad has come a long way in a short time. On Sunday, the lightly raced 3-year-old will take on a field of more seasoned, older horses when returning locally and to the allowance ranks in the afternoon’s $51,000 main event to be decided at 1 1/16 miles over the Tapeta surface.

Marwad was an instant success for his owners, Rachid Racing Inc. and trainer Mohammed Moubarak, when rallying from last to a head decision launching his career over the synthetic strip here July 9. The effort put Marwad, a son of the German stallion Intello, on a fast track to stakes company, with the relatively inexperienced gelding handling himself well in two subsequent starts, finishing third in the Bear’s Den here July 30 and most recently fifth in the Grade 3 Virginia Derby on Sept. 6 at Colonial Downs.

In the Virginia Derby, Marwad was reserved at the rear of the field for nearly six furlongs, found himself in some traffic briefly while advancing in early stretch, then finished willingly after angling to the inside. He was beaten only four lengths by trainer Todd Pletcher’s promising 3-year-old turf specialist, the 8-5 favorite Capensis.

“He came to us from England in March,” Moubarak said. “He had a fracture in his hind ankle at 2 that required surgery.

“He was very green when we first got him and is a typical big, grass horse who never showed much working on dirt. But he breezed well over the Tapeta, proved he liked the surface, and was able to win his first start and with a pretty good number despite being up against horses much more streetwise than he was.”

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Moubarak said he’s convinced the further the better for Marwad and that grass will ultimately be his preferred surface.

“I thought he ran very well the first time on the turf in the Virginia Derby,” Moubarak said. “He had to steady at one point and he’s not the kind of horse who’ll get out of trouble in a hurry.”

Moubarak said he considered sending Marwad to Keeneland for the Sycamore at 1 1/2 miles on the grass before taking the more conservative route and returning him to the allowance ranks here Sunday.

“The race is only a mile and one-sixteenth and he’s giving away a lot of experience to the older horses in the field, so he’s got a couple of things to overcome,” Moubarak said. “Our goal is to just keep him moving forward and developing and get him to the longer races when the turf reopens again here later this year.”

Marwad is one of two horses from Europe in Sunday’s headliner along with Great King, a French-bred who will make his 2022 and U.S. debut for trainer Jorge Delgado.

Great King posted his only victory in eight career starts going seven furlongs over the synthetic surface at Newcastle in 2021 and has been training forwardly over the main track here for his return. He has posted a series of strong works that concluded with a near bullet half-mile in 47.40 seconds last Saturday.

Great King, off his recent works, figures to be forwardly placed during the early stages of the race along with Wicked Finn, who steps up in company after being claimed for $10,000 out of a wire-to-wire victory on the Tapeta here last month. Wicked Finn is one of only two four-time winners in the field along with Parkland.

The Big Grey, Sigrun Fast Boy, and Ruthless Intent complete the lineup.

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