Ticonderoga fires in first start back from layoff

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ticonderoga made an impressive return from a seven-month layoff when he rallied from last with an eye-catching surge down the middle of the course to capture Thursday’s optional-claiming feature, defeating a field that included five graded stakes winners.

Ticonderoga, ridden on Thursday by Javier Castellano, had won his only prior local start two years earlier in the Grade 3 Palm Beach Stakes during the winter of his 3-year-old campaign.

“He’s such a great horse. He’s a come-from-behind horse, and I didn’t want to change anything. The track is firm, and speed carries, but he’s a good horse, and good horses always perform,” Castellano said. “I give all the credit to Chad Brown; he did an excellent job with the horse. He hasn’t run since Saratoga, and to bring him here and perform the way he did and the way he finished the race, it’s amazing. I just enjoyed the ride.”

Real Story, the winner of the Grade 3 American Derby at Arlington Park last summer, set the pace and outlasted the others to finish second in his 2019 debut.