Never In Doubt for Never Gone South

Never Gone South made light work of the field assembled for Saturday's Frank Whiteley Jr. S. at Laurel Park, drilling his foes by a distance while never taking a deep breath. The heavy chalk in a scratched-down group, the bay was asked for some early speed by Trevor McCarthy, but nothing else really wanted to come after the heavy favorite, allowing Never Gone South to cover the opening quarter-mile in a pedestrian :24.14 and the half in a route-like :47.91. Shaken up at the head of the stretch, Never Gone South quickened up to put the race to bed in a matter of strides and was taken in hand fully an eighth of a mile from home, reporting under the line much the best. A debut winner over 5 1/2 panels at Parx last June, Never Gone South followed up victoriously in the Strike Your Colors S. at Delaware Aug. 5. Beaten 3/4 of a length into second by stakes-repeater Awesome Speed (Awesome Again) in this track's James F. Lewis III S. Nov. 14, he was exiting a runner-up effort in the Dec. 5 Marylander S. to Vorticity (Distorted Humor), who returned to complete the exacta in the GIII Jerome S. at Aqueduct Jan. 2. Summer Rules, a half-sister to MGISW Peace Rules (Jules) and SW Wild Fashion (Once Wild), foaled a full-brother to the winner in 2015 and was bred back to Power Broker. This is also the family of GSW Corfu (Malibu Moon). Click for the Equibase.com chart or
VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

FRANK WHITELEY, JR S., $74,250, LRL, 1-16, 3yo, 7f, 1:23.92, gd.
1–NEVER GONE SOUTH, 122, c, 3, Munnings">Munnings–Summer Rules,
by Perfect Soul (Ire). ($52,000 Wlg '13 KEENOV; $38,000 Ylg
'14 FTKOCT; $90,000 2yo '15 OBSAPR). O-M M G Racing Stable;
B-Bend Or Thoroughbreds, USA (KY); T-Cathal A. Lynch;
J-Trevor McCarthy. $45,000. Lifetime Record: 5-3-2-0,
$141,125.
2–Marengo Road, 116, c, 3, Quality Road–Gac's Tomboy, by
Unbridled's Song. ($120,000 Ylg '14 KEESEP). O-Harry
C. & Tom O. Meyerhoff; B-Haymarket Farm LLC (KY); T-Michael
J. Trombetta. $15,000.[bullet ad=”selectsales-shell”]
3–Henry the King, 116, c, 3, Henrythenavigator–Society Gal, by
Linkage. ($70,000 RNA Wlg '13 KEENOV; $30,000 Ylg '14
FTKOCT). O-Rising Sun Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Kim & Rodney
Nardelli (KY); T-Gregory D. Sacco. $7,500.
Margins: 7 1/4, 1 1/4, 1 3/4. Odds: 0.60, 4.50, 5.70.
Also Ran: Moon Over a Beauty, Huntin'theholidays. Scratched: Wychmere, Danny My Boy.