Navarro loads up on all-stakes card

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jorge Navarro has trained more than his share of top-caliber horses over the years. His current roster of stars contains such notable names as the multiple Grade 1 winner Sharp Azteca and nationally renowned sprinter X Y Jet.

But it’s his success at the claiming game that really excites Navarro, whose eyes lit up just thinking about Gulfstream’s 12-race Saturday program. The card consists strictly of starter allowance stakes and mirrors the popular Claiming Crown held here each year on opening day of the Championship meet.

Navarro entered 13 horses, as did colleague Mike Maker. Navarro’s baker’s dozen is spread over seven races and includes four of the nine horses entered in the $60,000 Rail Splitter, to be decided at six furlongs for horses who have started for a claiming price of $35,000 or less.

“Days like this are what we do this for, claim these horses for, the big days like this,” Navarro said. “I really want to win a bunch of races on Saturday. I told my owners I need their help, that I’m going to have two horses in a lot of the races. One will go to the front, the other will come from out of it. I told them one of them will be a winner, one will lose, but please, I need you.”

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Among Navarro’s most notable starters Saturday will be the 8-year-old Delta Bluesman, a horse he claimed for $25,000 in October 2014. It took Delta Bluesman 17 starts to win his maiden. Since joining Navarro’s barn, he’s become a Grade 2 winner, winning the Smile Sprint here in July 2016, ran in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint later that year, and has won nine times overall to bring his career earnings to nearly $650,000.

Navarro gave Delta Bluesman more than six months off following his fourth-place finish in the 2017 Smile Sprint, dangling him for a $50,000 claiming tag in a race he won by 2 1/4 lengths on Jan. 12. There were no takers that day.

“I had him for nearly three years and we went really hard on him, never really gave him time off, so I just stopped on him last summer and gave him a break,” Navarro said. “I’m going to try to make it as easy as I can on him for now. Once horses like him gets to this age, you treat them right and they know how to get to the wire.”

Navarro also entered the speedy Shaft of Light, He’s Got Talent, and Zandar in the Rail Splitter.

The opposition will be led by Mo Cash, runner-up to Navarro’s odds-on favorite X Y Jet in the Sunshine Millions Turf Sprint here last month, and Cautious Giant, whose three-race win streak includes a one-length triumph in the Claiming Crown Rapid Transit on Dec 2.

Navarro’s other top prospects Saturday include Aztec Sense, winner of four of his last six starts, in the Rough and Ready, and graded stakes winner Singanothersong in the Trust Buster. On Jan. 10, Singanothersong notched his first win since being claimed for $16,000 by Navarro here in December. He won by nearly nine lengths for the same $16,000 tag.

Navarro is really excited about bringing Aztec Sense back again in the one-mile Rough and Ready.

“The first time Paco Lopez rode Aztec Sense for me at Parx, he came back after the race and said this horse might be as good as or better than Sharp Azteca,” Navarro said.

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While Navarro could dominate the dirt races on Saturday’s Card, Maker is equally as strong on the turf. His contingent is led by the recently graded stakes-placed Gianna’s Dream in the 1 1/16-mile Mary Todd for fillies and mares; the multiple stakes winner Special Ops and the graded stakes-placed Swagger Jagger in the 1 1/16-mile Old Man Eloquent; likely favorite Beach Waltz in the 7 1/2-furlong Mrs. Presidentress for 3-year-old fillies; and stakes winner Purely Boy in the day’s finale, the one-mile Little Magician.

Another prominent name on Saturday’s card is the amazing 8-year-old Page McKenney, who will get some class relief dropping into starter allowance company after finishing eighth in the Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday in his 2017 finale. Page McKenney has won 20 of 53 career starts, including four stakes last season for trainer Mary Eppler. A victory on Saturday would swell his lifetime earnings above the $1.8 million mark.

Page McKenney will face eight opponents in the 1 1/16-mile Old Hickory, including Sunshine Millions Classic winner Jay’s Way; Navarro’s Claiming Crown Jewel winner Flowers for Lisa; and the Puerto Rican Group 1 winner Mishegas.