Daryl Abramowitz's Grade 3 winning-sprinter Greeley and Ben, still going strong at the age of 9, chases a second straight victory and 25th overall against 11 rivals in Saturday's $100,000 Dave's Friend at Laurel Park.
The six-furlong Dave's Friend for 3-year-olds and up is the second of four $100,000 stakes on the final pre-Christmas program at Laurel, preceded by the 6 ½-furlong Willa On the Move and followed by the 1 1/8-mile Carousel, both for fillies and mares 3 and older, and 1 1/16-mile Robert T. Manfuso for 3-year-olds and up.
Post time for the first of nine races is 12:25 p.m.
Greeley and Ben won stakes at Remington Park, Delta Downs, Sam Houston and was third in Oaklawn Park's Whitmore (G3) in 2021-22 before breaking through with his first graded triumph in the six-furlong Fall Highweight (G3) last November at Aqueduct.
It took nearly a year and a switch to trainer Horacio DePaz before Greeley and Ben ran again, finishing sixth in a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance on a muddy Laurel track Nov. 10. He came back Dec. 2 to run down Johnyz From Albany and win a similar spot by a nose sprinting six furlongs.
Laurel is one of 15 venues where Greeley and Ben has raced since his October 2016 debut, in Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and Texas
“He's doing good. He's an old, hard-knocking war horse. Just a very cool horse,” DePaz said. “He's had quite the career and basically run at every racetrack. He came back in good form. We figured that first race he was going to need it and I was encouraged by the way he ran. Going into the next one it looked like he got a lot more fitness out of it and he showed up. It was good to see.”
Claimed three times over the years, most recently for $40,000 last September out of a front-running win at Saratoga, Greeley and Ben joined DePaz over the summer. The gelded son of Greeley's Conquest is 24-for-41 overall with $921,138 in purse earnings.
“With his back class you always hope that horses can come back and continue on, especially after winning the Fall Highweight last year. As trainers, we're always optimistic that we're going to be able to get back to that form,” DePaz said. “When we first started bringing him back we didn't know what kind of form he'd come back in, but it was good to be able to get in those two races and, date-wise, it was good this one came up.”
Greeley and Ben drew Post 10 of 12 and will be ridden by Jevian Toledo, up for both his races this year.
“The owner gave him some time off and let him do some R and R and brought him back slowly. It worked out to be a decent claim,” DePaz said. “He's a really cool horse [with a] really good personality to him.”
Just to the outside of Greeley and Ben is Michael Scheffres' Factor It In, the defending Dave's Friend champion that beat Greeley and Ben in his comeback race last month. The 7-year-old Factor It In is 3-for-6 this year including a win in the 6 ½-furlong Fire Plug Jan. 21 as well as his last-out triumph.
James Wolf's Dollarization has run fourth in back-to-back starts at Parx and Laurel after capturing historic Pimlico Race Course's six-furlong Lite the Fuse Sept. 16. Isabelle de Tomaso and Hope Jones' No Cents won a pair of 2-year-old stakes at Laurel in 2020 but has won just one of 10 starts since, finishing third in his most recent effort Sept. 30 behind Sir Alfred James, who also returns in the Dave's Friend along with Built Wright Stables' stablemate Cowan.
Completing the field are 2022 Phoenix (G2) winner Manny Wah; multiple stakes winners Stage Left and Threes Over Deuces; He'smyhoneybadger, Mystic O'Shaunesie and Nico.
The post ‘Hard-Knocking War Horse’: 9-Year-Old Greeley And Ben To Defend His Title In Saturday’s Dave’s Friend appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
