Superhero’ Returns in Swale
Daredevil (More Than Ready)–an impressive winner over Upstart (Flatter) in last term’s GI Champagne S. in the Belmont Park slop Oct. 4–kicks off his sophomore campaign in Saturday’s seven-furlong GII Fasig-Tipton Swale S. at Gulfstream Park. The chestnut was last seen finishing last of 11 in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Nov. 1.
“We gave him a little freshening after the Breeders’ Cup and this is kind of where we found ourselves, timing-wise,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “It was mainly the timing and I thought that seven-eighths of a mile would be a good starting point for him. It wasn’t a complicated decision or anything like that.”
Breaking from post 10 while making his two-turn debut in the Breeders’ Cup, Daredevil never seemed to get on track, finishing 26 1/4 lengths behind Texas Red (Afleet Alex).
“I’m not really sure what happened,” Pletcher admitted. “He got a wide trip on a track that probably wasn’t playing that way, and he had had three races in a short period of time. He’s a very talented horse. He showed that in his first two starts last year and he’s come back and trained very well.”
Daredevil, owned by Let’s Go Stable, WinStar Farm and China Horse Club, has fired three straight bullets at Palm Beach Downs (TDN APB), including a best-of-19 four-furlong move in :48 1/5. He has been assigned post one here.
“We’ll see how this race goes and probably try to stretch him out in the next start and play that by ear,” Pletcher continued. “We’ll get by this race and take it one race at a time and go from there.”
Chalk Racing’s Ready for Rye (City Zip) has kept some very nice company in his first three career starts. A debut second behind subsequent GI Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Carpe Diem (Giant’s Causeway) at Saratoga Sept. 1, he rolled to a seven-length maiden win over the highly regarded Mawthooq (Distorted Humor) in the Belmont slop Oct. 11. Ready for Rye stayed on for second behind next out GIII Hutcheson S. winner Barbados (Speightstown) after racing with a hot pace in the Spectacular Bid S. here Jan. 3.
Minus a seventh-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile after a stumbling start, Live Oak Plantation’s Souper Colossal (War Front) is perfect in four other attempts. The Sapling S. and Tyro S. winner kicked off the year with a popular win in the grassy five-furlong Texas Glitter S. in Hallandale Feb. 7.
“It was either don’t run him and come back in a seven-eighths of a mile race, or go ahead and get him a little bit sharper and run him on a surface that he doesn’t know and hasn’t been on but should like,” trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. said of Souper Colossal’s comeback effort on grass. “We just figured it would put him in a better place for later on in the year including this race coming up.”
Plesa added, “I’m looking for him to win and move forward. I think he’s a top-grade 3-year-old and he’s won going short and going long. I don’t know what his best distance is yet. I don’t think seven-eighths of a mile is going to be any problem whatsoever. He just needs to get fit and see how good he is.”
The progressive Senor Grits (Elusive Quality), third in a very live renewal of Laurel’s James F. Lewis III S. Nov. 15, should receive plenty of pace to close into here. The bay was last seen posting a come-from-behind $75,000 optional claiming win at Tampa Jan. 31. He fired a four-furlong bullet in :47 4/5 at Palm Meadows Feb. 17.