Pirate's Punch to make rare one-turn start in Stymie
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The connections of Pirate’s Punch are hoping a change of scenery will do the 6-year-old gelding some good when he makes his New York debut in Saturday’s $125,000 Stymie Stakes at Aqueduct.
The winner of the Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park in Sept. 2020, Pirate’s Punch has gone winless in seven tries since. Most recently, he finished a well-beaten sixth in the Grade 3 Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds. Mandaloun and Midnight Bourbon, who finished first and second in that race, are among the more highly regarded older horses in training. Pirate’s Punch is a half-brother to Midnight Bourbon as well as the Grade 1 winner Girvin.
It was after the Louisiana Stakes that the owners, led by Phil Bongiovanni, moved the horse to trainer William Morey, who bought the horse as a yearling and trained him for his first three starts. The horse was then moved to Grant Forster in the Midwest.
“He did very well with the horse,” Morey said. “We’re hoping a change in scenery and obviously a little change in class helps.”
The Stymie is run at a one-turn mile. Pirate’s Punch has not run in a one-turn race since 2019.
“It wouldn’t be our [first] choice, I don’t think, but at the same time he needs something different,” Morey said. “He’s in a little lull right now so maybe something like that will fire him up.”
The Stymie drew a field of seven. From the rail out, it’s Green Light Go, Waxman, Hanalei’s Houdini, Doubly Blessed, Milton the Monster, Pirate’s Punch, and Our Last Buck.