Surly Furious enters Forego repeat bid off rare layoff
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Defending race winner Surly Furious returns to action in the $125,000 Forego Stakes for older sprinters Saturday night at Turfway Park.
Surly Furious, a 7-year-old gelding trained by Glenn Wismer, is a five-time stakes winner on synthetic surfaces. That includes a pair of stakes last year in a fine campaign at Turfway in which he showed versatility both in distance and running style. After finishing on the board in a pair of allowance/optional-claiming races – finishing behind Turfway stakes winners in salty fields – he won the 6 1/2-furlong Forego by 1 1/4 lengths over graded stakes winner Arrest Me Red, pouncing after stalking the pace. He went on to win the 1 1/16-mile Dust Commander, making a sweeping move from farther back and dominating by eight lengths over Kitodan.
A pair of losses in graded stakes company around two turns followed. Surly Furious finished sixth in the Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway, then was sixth in the Grade 3 Ben Ali on dirt at Keeneland in his most recent start. A fairly steady campaigner, the last time the gelding came off a layoff this significant was back in 2022. He won an allowance/optional-claiming race going six furlongs on Presque Isle’s Tapeta on June 1, 2022, his first start in 10 months.
Playmea Tune is the lukewarm morning-line favorite for the Forego as he returns to a preferred surface. The gelding won 3 of 5 outings on Woodbine’s synthetic track last year and was beaten just a neck in the Grade 3 Bold Venture at 6 1/2 furlongs. In his most recent outing, he was fifth in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector going seven furlongs on Gulfstream’s dirt.
Godolphin’s promising Finster is making his stakes debut having won 3 of 4 lifetime, including a Turfway allowance/optional-claiming race at this distance last out, on Dec. 7.
Bromley also has shown affinity for this track, never missing the board here and also coming off an allowance/optional-claiming win. That effort earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 93, the top last-out number in this field. Two others earned a 91 in their respective last starts – Red Flag, with an allowance/optional-claiming win on a muddy Oaklawn dirt track, and graded stakes winner One Timer, who was third in the Holiday Cheer in December at Turfway.
One Timer could show some speed from the outside in this field of 10.
If a good pace develops, late-running Shards could benefit. He rallied to win an allowance/optional-claiming race on Dec. 20 in his first start since last April and could be tighter for his second start off the layoff. He is multiple stakes-placed, including a second in the Animal Kingdom last year at Turfway.
◗ Buchu, a multiple graded stakes winner on the Kentucky circuit, has been retired. Rigney Racing’s homebred daughter of Justify will be boarded at Denali Stud, and Denali’s Conrad Bandoroff said Buchu will be bred to Not This Time.
Buchu, trained by Phil Bauer, scored a pair of Grade 2 wins on the Keeneland turf, in the Jessamine at 2 and Appalachian at 3.
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