Transgress tries two turns in allowance
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has some 3-year-old talent in his barn this meet at Oaklawn, and one of those promising young horses is Transgress, who will see action in the eighth race Thursday.
Transgress makes the move to two turns for the first-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles. He enters off a maiden special weight sprint win for which he earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 87.
“I think he might be better going two turns,” Lukas said. “He’s an Into Mischief out of a Malibu Moon mare, and we’ve always thought he’s had the ability to run around there … I’d be surprised if he doesn’t look every bit as good.”
Transgress will face 10 other 3-year-olds, including Kingsville, the third-place finisher in the $400,000 Springboard Mile in December at Remington Park; Dream Baby Dream, a close-up third in the $100,000 Spendthrift Farm Juvenile Stallion Stakes in October at Churchill Downs; and Catdaddy and Title Ready.
Transgress debuted in June at Churchill Downs, and after encountering his fair share of trouble in the maiden special weight at 5 1/2 furlongs, he ended up second to eventual Grade 1 winner Free Drop Billy. In his only other start, Transgress won maiden special weight at six furlongs Jan. 13 at Oaklawn. Gary Stevens was aboard for the front-end victory and has the mount again Thursday.
“He ran 1:10 and change here the first weekend, taking all the heat early, too, so we were delighted with that effort, and Gary liked him a lot,” said Lukas, who trains Transgress for Robert Baker and William Mack.
The race Thursday was an “extra,” an opportunity outside of the condition book that was made available by Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope.
“He’s very aware of what most of us are trying to do, and that’s develop a horse to get to the promised land,” Lukas said. “He dropped that one right in there and everybody else took advantage of it, too. It filled like crazy. There’s some pretty nice horses in there, so we’ll get a real good look at [Transgress] in this race and see a little bit more of what we’ve got. If he passes that test, then we’ve got all kinds of options.”
◗ Also on the card, Song of Mine, a 3-year-old half-sister to champion Songbird, will make her career debut. She runs in the seventh, a maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies at a mile. Song of Mine will break from post 2 under David Cohen, who has the mount for PTK LLC and trainer Dane Kobiskie. The filly is by Ghostzapper and was an $800,000 yearling purchase in 2016.
