Promising 3-year-old Gift Box comes north

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Gotham Stakes contender Shagaf wasn’t the only promising 3-year-old whom trainer Chad Brown shipped back to New York from south Florida earlier this week.

Gift Box, who finished third in the Grade 2 Remsen here on Nov. 28, also returned to New York to continue training after suffering a couple of minor setbacks in south Florida. Gift Box worked twice at Palm Meadows but hasn’t worked since Jan. 25.

“He had a couple of minor setbacks that took him off his breeze schedule,” Brown said. “He seems to be very healthy right now. We’ll just take cautious steps with him because he’s obviously a very talented horse and hopefully will have a big year. We’ll let him tell us when he’s ready to start breezing.”

Prior to his third in the Remsen, Gift Box beat Matt King Coal by a nose in an off-the-turf maiden race at Belmont on Oct. 3. Matt King Coal came back to win a maiden race by 5 3/4 lengths on Oct. 29.

Matt King Coal will make his first start since then on Sunday here in a first-level allowance race going 1 1/16 miles. Among the horses he will face is My Man Sam, an eight-length maiden winner trained by Brown here on Jan. 31.