By Christie DeBernardis
Cheyenne Stables and Head of Plains Partners' Cowboy Culture (Quality Road) ships in from the Fair Grounds in search of his fourth straight victory Saturday in Gulfstream's GIII Palm Beach S. A debut winner at Churchill Oct. 30, the Brad Cox pupil cleared his first-level allowance condition at Fair Grounds Dec. 11 and captured that venue's Keith Gee Memorial S. Feb. 4 to take his perfect record to three-for-three. The runner-up that day was Girvin (Tale of Ekati), who returned to capture the GII Risen Star S. on the Fair Grounds main track Feb. 25.
“I'm pretty confident with Florent [Geroux] on him,” said Cox. “He knows the colt. I don't think on the grass, post position is as big a deal as it is on dirt. He's a tactical colt. He's training well. We're happy what we see so far.”
It's not a turf race without a Chad Brown representative and the Eclipse winner has a strong chance to capture his second straight renewal of this test with “TDN Rising Star” Ticonderoga (Tapit). An impressive second-out graduate at Belmont Sept. 10, the Woodford Racing colorbearer completed the exacta in the GIII Bourbon S. at Keeneland Oct. 9 and was fourth last time behind fellow “TDN Rising Star” Oscar Performance (Kitten's Joy) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Nov. 4.
“Mentally he seems to be doing better as he has gotten older. I see a horse that has settled down some,” Brown said. “He was a little bit of a handful as a 2-year-old. He did some antics, like lugging in at Keeneland. We made some equipment changes and he has seemed to respond to them.”
It's also not a grass event without a Kitten's Joy and trainer Joe Sharp sends out a Ken and Sarah Ramsey homebred by their flagship sire in Kitten's Cat. Third behind Oscar Performance in the GIII Pilgrim S. at Belmont Oct. 1, the bay captured the Juvenile Turf Sprint S. on the GI Breeders' Cup Classic undercard at Santa Anita Nov. 5. Fourth in this venue's GIII Dania Beach S. Jan. 7, he returned to score a narrow victory in the Kitten's Joy S. Feb. 4.
Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey saddles another interesting contender who could be improving at just the right time in Snap Decision (Hard Spun), a half-brother to inaugural GI Belmont Derby winner Mr Speaker (Pulpit). Fifth over a yielding course at Belmont in his career bow Oct. 29, the Phipps homebred improved to third next out in Hallandale Jan. 7 and displayed an impressive late turn of foot to graduate by 2 1/2 lengths in a nine-furlong test on Pegasus World Cup day Jan. 28.
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