Navarro, Cool Arrow stick with what works

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jorge Navarro describes himself as a “pretty aggressive guy” when it comes to placing his horses. So it should come as no surprise to see Cool Arrow right back in the same condition for the same $62,500 price tag he claimed him for out of an impressive winning effort here six weeks earlier.

Cool Arrow will go postward among the favorites in Friday’s optional-claiming feature in a field that includes top contenders Last Judgment, Fortune’s Fool, Where Paradise Lay, and a second Navarro entrant, the 7-year-old Malibu Max. The main event will be decided at six furlongs for a $52,000 purse.

Cool Arrow entered his most recent start off an uncharacteristically poor performance, a sixth-place effort after prompting the pace going a mile four weeks earlier. But the turnback in distance and a perfect pace-stalking trip helped the 6-year-old son of Into Mischief rally to a 1 3/4-length victory on Dec. 27, his seventh win in 21 career starts.

“I picked this horse out to claim, but it took me a couple of hours to sell him to my owners,” Navarro said. “Fortunately, one of them finally came through and agreed to put up the money. He’s been training like a good horse since I’ve had him, he’s had two fast works at Palm Meadows, and the way he’s working I expect him to show a lot of speed breaking from the outside post in this race.”

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Navarro also was confident Malibu Max would get a share of the purse for owner Mike Repole, who claimed him for $62,500 during the Keeneland fall meet.

“I kind of want to protect the old man for Mike until we get back north,” Navarro said. “There’s a lot of speed in the race, and it should come back to him at the end.”

Last Judgment is the big question mark, having been away since finishing a distant fourth behind King for a Day and Maximum Security in the Pegasus Stakes on June 16 at Monmouth Park. Last Judgment, 4, won his maiden against statebreds here in February and a two-turn entry-level allowance race at Oaklawn Park the following month before finishing well back against much tougher opposition in his final two 3-year-old appearances.

Last Judgment returns as a first-time gelding on Friday off an impressive-looking series of bullet works at Palm Beach Downs for trainer Todd Pletcher.

Navarro and Repole also have one of the key players in the afternoon’s co-featured eighth race in Violent Trick. The 1 1/16-mile optional claimer for fillies and mares carries a $51,000 purse.

Violent Trick finished a distant fourth in his first start off the claim for Navarro on Jan. 15.

“She broke through the gate before the start, and when she came back to the barn I remember thinking I’d never seen anything like it,” Navarro said. “Her back bandage was torn in half yet she didn’t have a cut on her. That had to put a lot of stress on her to begin with and then she wound up contesting a very fast pace. I expect her to run a lot better this time. Unfortunately, it looks like we caught a real good one in the horse of Chad’s, which is what happens when you try going through your conditions during the Championship meet.”

The Brown horse Navarro was referring to is Royal Flag, an eight-length maiden winner when stretching to a mile at second asking in December at Aqueduct, for which she earned an 82 Beyer Speed Figure. The daughter of Candy Ride is a half-sister to the five-time Grade 2 winner Catalina Cruiser.

Shancelot ‘perfect’ in work

Navarro was also absolutely raving Wednesday about the speedy Shancelot, who worked five furlongs in 1:01 earlier that morning at Gulfstream Park West. Shancelot flies out on Feb. 18 for the $1.5 million Saudi Sprint.

“It was perfect, perfect,” Navarro said. “We can’t control him right now. Today was just maintenance. He went 58 and change and out 1:11 in his previous work, when we laid him on the rail with Jose [Ortiz] up. I’ll work him once more here, from the gate, before he ships.”

Navarro said that Ortiz, who guided Shancelot to a second-place finish behind Eclipse Award winner Mitole in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, will have the mount once again in the Saudi Sprint.