Reid brings another live one into Garland of Roses

During the first weekend of December, the Parx-based trainer Butch Reid sent two horses to Aqueduct and won stakes races. Morning Matcha captured a New York Stallion Series race and Dr. B the Grade 3 Go for Wand. These were not outliers. Over the last year, Reid-trained shippers have gone 11-3-3-2 in Aqueduct stakes.

“Not bad for a little guy from Philly,” said Reid.

Not bad, and it could get better, with Disco Ebo a live chance Saturday in the $120,000 Garland of Roses.

Disco Ebo is one of seven in a six-furlong dash for older fillies and mares. She and regular rider Frankie Pennington break from the rail as one of two major pace players. The other, Olga Isabel, is drawn toward the outside. Reid is nonplussed.

“If they go too fast, she can sit off it,” said Reid.

Reid has a strong sense of Disco Ebo’s capabilities, and not just because the 4-year-old has made 18 starts, winning nine. Disco Ebo is by Weigelia out of Katarica Disco, making her a full sister to stakes winners Fore Harp, Smooth B, and Fat Kat, as well as Disco Rose, Disco Déjà Vu, and Harp’s Hot Corner. Reid trained or trains all those horses.

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Cash Is King owns Disco Ebo in partnership with Glen Bennett’s LC Racing, and it was Bennett who began buying offspring of Katarica Disco beginning with Fat Kat.

A stumbling start cost Disco Ebo when she dueled for the lead and faded to third as a 14-1 shot in the 2022 Garland of Roses. Saturday, making her second start following a half-year layoff, she’ll vie for favoritism. Disco Ebo won her comeback race, a no-conditions, seven-furlong allowance race Oct. 31 at Parx. Reid said Disco Ebo wilts in hot weather, accounting for her extended vacation, and he brought the filly back at seven furlongs only because a six-furlong race failed to fill.

“Three-quarters, even a little shorter, is her specialty,” Reid said. “She’s had some chronic foot issues in the past, but I think we’ve got them behind her.”

Olga Isabel is the only horse in the Garland of Roses who might not be behind Disco Ebo after the first furlong. Olga Isabel comes from the Kentucky string of Brad Cox, who has trained the filly for only three starts, all wins. Olga Isabel took down a first-level Ellis Park allowance over one mile, a Saratoga second-level allowance at a mile, and a Keeneland third-level allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs. At Keeneland, she was gifted an easy lead, and the Garland of Roses marks Olga Isabel’s first start at a distance as short as six furlongs.

A hot pace helps You Look Cold, who sputtered in two Saratoga starts over wet tracks but ran well enough Oct. 28 returning from a break with a second-level win over this track to contend Saturday. You Look Cold turned in a sharp 12.07-second final quarter-mile last out to run down Quick Money and win by a half-length, and she has room to improve off that performance.

Kant Hurry Love, Self Isolation, Headland, and Hot Fudge round out the field.

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