Maximus Mischief aces final Holy Bull work

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Robert “Butch” Reid told jockey Jose Ortiz he’d buy him lunch if he could hold the freakishly fast Maximus Mischief to a half-mile in 49 seconds over the packed down, sealed, but still muddy racetrack here Monday morning in his all-important final breeze before Saturday’s Grade 2 Holy Bull.

In the end, Reid may have wound up throwing in a free breakfast as well after Maximus Mischief completed the distance in 50.06 seconds in a work postponed each of the previous two mornings due to heavy rains and the resulting track conditions, which put a crimp in just about everybody’s training plans at Gulfstream Park this past weekend.

Reid paced around the grandstand apron like an expectant father awaiting Maximus Mischief and Ortiz to get down to business, but he was all smiles afterward.

“I was hoping they would harrow the track after the break, but they told me there was still too much water in it to do that,” Reid said. “But Jose did a masterful job. He got him to go the opening eighth in nearly 14, then came home in 36 and change, which was absolutely perfect. The one good thing about going today, when we did, is that there wasn’t a lot of traffic out there at the time and he was nice and relaxed. Five days out from the race, it was exactly what we wanted.”

Ortiz kept Maximus Mischief off the rail during the early stages of the breeze, although the pair were down near the fence at the end.

“This horse has a habit of leaning in and going right to the fence once he changes leads in the stretch, which is one reason I wanted Jose on him this morning, to let him get a feel for that,” Reid said. “We added a shadow roll to his equipment for the last two works, and he’s certainly done better. We got all the work in now we wanted to coming into this race. He’s had some big, long gallops, a couple of speed breezes, and this slow one today should set him up perfectly for the race.”

Reid did say he would gate school and paddock school Maximus Mischief during the week.

The inclement weather, which stretched all the way up the South Florida coast this weekend, had Todd Pletcher facing a similar dilemma as Reid trying to get a final Holy Bull prep in for his undefeated 3-year-old Federal Case. And he, too, was able to accomplish that goal Monday over a fast track at the Palm Beach Downs training center in Delray, where Federal Case breezed four furlongs in 48.39 according to Daily Racing Form clocker Dave Norton.

“Ideally, I would have liked to have gone Saturday or Sunday but felt fortunate we were able to get the work in today over a track that dried out extremely well and was in pretty good shape by the time he worked around 10 a.m. this morning,” Pletcher said. “This was pretty much a maintenance half-mile since he had a really strong breeze last week. He did it well and has been training very forwardly since winning the allowance race.”

Federal Case, a son of Gemologist, launched his career with a game half-length victory at Keeneland for trainer Rodolphe Brisset in October and won his juvenile finale, for Pletcher, in similar fashion going a mile here on Dec. 23.