Sweet Whiskey gets class relief in return from layoff
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Here he goes again. Todd Pletcher is reaching down his ultra-long shed row for another stakes-caliber horse returning from the sidelines, this time a filly named Sweet Whiskey who somehow has remained eligible for a second-level allowance condition.
Pletcher won the optional-claiming feature Sunday at Gulfstream Park with a comebacker named Rock Fall, the latest to use a series of works at the Palm Beach Downs training center to make its seasonal debut following a layoff.
Sweet Whiskey will be making her first start in the allowance ranks in the ninth of 10 Thursday races, a $50,000, six-furlong race with a $62,500 claiming option that drew 10 other older fillies and mares. Since winning her career debut in August 2013 at Saratoga, she has raced exclusively in stakes, with all but one of those 10 subsequent starts coming in graded events.
Away since finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Go for Wand at Aqueduct in late November, Sweet Whiskey is entered here after having been sent through six official workouts at Palm Beach Downs, including a pair of bullets. The 4-year-old filly will be reunited with John Velazquez when breaking in midpack from post 6.
KEY CONTENDERS
Sweet Whiskey (Last 3 Beyers: 88-90-81)
◗ Winner of the Grade 3 Old Hat here last winter before earning further graded-stakes-placed black type in the Beaumont, Acorn, and Raven Run, she clearly is the class of this field.
◗ Obviously, the main question is whether she’s primed to win at first asking off the bench, although Pletcher shows outstanding numbers in all the categories that apply here, including a 23 percent win rate in 2014-15 with horses returning from a layoff of 61 to 180 days.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: Sweet Whiskey. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 47-7-5-6 with a $0.73 ROI over the past five years going route to sprint on dirt following a layoff of 120 days or more. – Mike Hogan
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Joann’s Wildcat (Last 3 Beyers: 87-74-54)
◗ This speedy filly returned from a 14-month layoff to win this same kind of race six weeks ago to up her career record to 3 for 4 and remains eligible for this as one of three horses in here (with Making Havoc and Light Bringer) entered for the $62,500 claiming option.
Celebrity Star (Last 3 Beyers: 82-80-NA)
◗ This Dave Kassen-trained mare has really turned a corner this winter, as her 28-1 upset in a Feb. 5 optional claimer was validated by another big effort in her first crack at this condition three weeks later.
Little Tami (Last 3 Beyers: 82-63-67)
◗ She got a terrific ride from Edgar Prado in knocking out her first allowance condition at 11-1 here Feb. 26 and figures a similar price in this spot for Carlo Vaccarezza, whose career return on investment is $1.93 (141 starts) since he turned to training in late 2013.
Ultimate Shopper (Last 3 Beyers: 59-85-86)
◗ This speedy filly is liable to show marked improvement off her disappointing Feb. 4 return when favorably drawn in the load-and-go outside post, with one added benefit being that she surely needed that first start in more than seven months.