T Loves a Fight switches to turf in Spectacular Bid

Trainer Mike Hushion has announced his impending retirement, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be going quietly into the night. He won the fifth race at Belmont on Thursday, had three horses entered Saturday, and on Sunday will send out the favored T Loves a Fight in the $100,000 Spectacular Bid division of the New York Stallion Stakes.

The Spectacular Bid, for 3-year-olds, is at seven furlongs over the Widener turf course. The card also includes its sister race, the Cupecoy’s Joy.

T Loves a Fight took a few starts to get going, but in eight starts since Hushion had him gelded, he has finished worse than second only once. T Loves a Fight has won four of his last five, including the statebred Mike Lee Stakes on May 29.

“He turned around when we gelded him,” Hushion said.

T Loves a Fight has started on turf only once before, finishing seventh in his debut last September. Hushion worked T Loves a Fight a half-mile on turf Monday. Rain was forecast for the New York area overnight Friday and into Saturday morning, and the course could have some give to it.

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“It looked like he handled the turf to me,” Hushion said. “I feel confident he’ll be fine on it. It’s a competitive race, but I’ll be surprised if the turf beats him.”

Crawdaddy comes into this race off a $69 upset in his career debut for trainer Jeremiah Englehart. Well back early in the six-furlong turf sprint, he closed fast to win going away by 2 1/2 lengths.

Crawdaddy received a nice pace setup in that race and will be taking a significant class jump. Still, his price will be a lot shorter than it was last time. Luis Saez will be back aboard.

“Luis said he was green the first part of it but then put it together,” Englehart said. “I thought he was a pretty decent horse coming into the race, but I wasn’t sure he was as good as the other one I had in there. I think the turf moved him up.”

Englehart’s other horse, Uncle Tbone, finished third.

Crawdaddy will be returning on 16 days’ rest.

“From a training standpoint, the timing of this race isn’t perfect,” Englehart said. “But sometimes with this kind of race, you have to kind of go for it. It’s the right spot for him.”

In the eight-horse Cupecoy’s Joy, Paz the Bourbon may be favored for trainer Mark Hennig. She closed stoutly while making her first start in five months May 21 to finish third, beaten a length, in a second-level statebred optional claimer.

She was steadied after the start of that six-furlong turf race, then made up considerable ground.

Florida-based horseman Reid Nagle is sending in Lover’s Key, who has improved considerably since he claimed her for $50,000 at Gulfstream Park in January. She is 3 for 3 since Nagle added blinkers to her equipment.

“The blinkers made a pretty dramatic difference,” Nagle said. “It was a shock to me.”

Lover’s Key won a $25,000 maiden claimer and a $25,000 starter race on the lead to start her streak. She rallied from far back to win a first-level optional-claiming race at Gulfstream in her most recent start. All three wins came around two turns.

“She likes to run a distance, but she doesn’t like a second turn,” Nagle said. “She almost wants to bolt. I’m hoping one sweeping turn at Belmont suits her.”

Nagle, 65, has won 144 races and has an 18 percent win average since he began training in 2011. He has 15 horses at the Oak Ridge Training Center in Ocala, Fla., keeps four stalls at Gulfstream, and has a farm in Virginia, where he shipped Lover’s Key earlier in the week.

“My career was in information technology, but I was getting bored with it and wanted to do something that would engage me,” he said.