Pegasus-bound Senor Buscador gets a feel for the track

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The well-traveled Senor Buscador, whose 16 lifetime starts have come over 10 different racetracks, will add Gulfstream Park to the list when he launches his 2024 campaign next month in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

Trainer Todd Fincher sent Senor Buscador, who is a Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed this season, to South Florida well in advance to prepare for the Pegasus World Cup. He shipped him south shortly after he concluded a highly successful 2023 campaign by finishing second to Hoist the Gold in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile on Dec. 2 at Aqueduct.

The stretch-running Senor Buscador had finished seventh, beaten just 5 1/4 lengths by White Abarrio, in the Breeders’ Cup Classic four weeks earlier.

Senor Buscador got his first real feel for the local surface Monday, breezing an easy half-mile in 49.50 seconds under jockey Junior Alvarado, who rode the son of Mineshaft for the first time in the Cigar Mile.

“We just wanted to give him a little spin over the track this morning, we still have over a month until the race,” Fincher said by phone Monday from his current base at Zia Park.

Fincher said the decision to send Senor Buscador in early to prepare for the Pegasus was an easy one.

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“It just didn’t make sense to send him all the way back to New Mexico after the Cigar Mile and then ship him a second time back to Florida,” said Fincher, who trains Senor Buscador for owner-breeder Joseph Peacock Jr.

Senor Buscador does all his running from way off the pace, a fact Fincher concedes is an obstacle he has to overcome every time he competes.

“It’s tough giving Grade 1 horses an eight-length head start every time,” he said. “He’s had to overcome a lot, including races with no pace and over biased racetracks, like the one at Aqueduct for the Cigar which was definitely biased favoring horses on the lead and on the rail, like the winner was that day.

“Our horse raced way off the rail and way off the pace and still beat all the others. He basically runs the same race and shows up every time. He’s been really good to us, and I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

Senor Buscador was one of several prominent names on Monday’s work tab at Gulfstream Park, which included the potentially Pegasus-bound Clapton (five furlongs in 1:00.60), and Grade 3 winner Giant Game (four furlongs in 47.72) and his stablemate Cyclone Mischief (five furlongs in 59.68), who finished third here earlier this year in the Grade 1 Florida Derby. Great Navigator (four furlongs in 49 seconds), third last out in the Grade 2 Vosburgh, prepped on Monday for Saturday’s Grade 3 Mr. Prospector.

Juveniles switch to turf

They saved the best for last when racing resumes Thursday, with the main event carded as the finale on the nine-race program. The $71,000 allowance and optional-claiming dash scheduled to be run at five furlongs on the turf that attracted a well-matched and very promising group of youngsters, including a trio of stakes-placed juveniles.

Three of the eight members of the lineup exit the same race, a similarly conditioned dash decided over the Tapeta track on Nov. 3 that was won by the Grade 2-placed, Todd Pletcher-trained, 3-2 favorite Haul. Okiro, King Skull, and Shea D World finished second, third, and fourth behind the winner that day. The only two members of the field to have come back to race, sixth- and seventh-place finishers Full Nelson and Ninja Star, flattered the event while winning by 6 1/2 and 3 1/4 lengths, respectively.

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Okiro, who rallied wide to finish second, a length behind Haul, will add blinkers Thursday and is coming off a sensational three-furlong work in 33 seconds over the Tapeta with the new equipment added less than a week earlier. Okiro’s ability to handle the turf will be key as neither his dam nor any of her offspring have won over the surface from limited opportunities.

King Skull and Shea D World contested a lively pace in their first meeting, ultimately paying the consequences at the end and must avoid a similar conflict in the rematch. Shea D World is one of only three members of the field with any turf experience, having finished third in the Tyro Stakes in his second career start this summer at Monmouth Park.

Recent maiden winners Spirit’s Mischief and Runnin’ Rocket both figure to garner plenty of support in their first start against winners, with both projecting to be forwardly placed from the outset.

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