The $200,000, Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale Stakes one of three graded events on the card – is the featured event January 9 at Gulfstream as a full field of eleven veteran turfers are scheduled to contest the mile and one sixteenth event.
Lochte, the 3/1 morning line favorite, is a classic horse-for-course with a sterling record over the Gulfstream Park lawn. The Marcus Vitali trainee has won his last three starts, including a last-out score in the Grade 3 Tropical Turf Handicap November 21 at Gulfstream West. The six year-old gelded son of Medaglia d’Oro has won 9 of 32 career starts for earnings of $755,767 and is strictly the horse to beat while breaking from the rail post under jockey Javier Castellano.
The lightly-raced War Correspondent (4/1) has won half of his eight career starts while never finishing worse than third for the turf-renowned Christophe Clement barn. Still, some red flags exist as this son of War Front has not raced since March 28 and has just four races under his belt since July 28, 2013. Backers will have to rely on the six year-old’s obvious natural ability and Clement’s penchant for getting a horse ready to fire.
Takeover Target (5/1) is a multiple graded stakes winner and was a familiar foe in the three year-old turf division last year while hailing from another grass-centric barn in Chad Brown’s. The four year-old finished a strong 2015 campaign with a win in the Grade 3 Hill Prince Stakes in October.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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