Unbeaten ‘Rising Star’ Radio Days Returns in Forward Gal

Unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Radio Days (Gun Runner) launches her sophomore campaign in Saturday's GIII Forward Gal S. at Gulfstream Park.

Owned by Allen Stable Inc. and trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, the $750,000 KEESEP graduate made it two-for-two in a blowout optional claiming victory at this same seven-furlong distance at Aqueduct last time Dec. 2. Her worktab includes a four-furlong bullet in :48 3/5 (1/19) at Payson Jan. 12.

“She's a filly we're really excited about. Her first two races have been really good,” McGaughey said. “She's had a little bit of a break now. She's going to run Saturday, and hopefully her future is ahead of her.”

Diamond Wow (Lookin At Lucky), winner of the rained-off Our Dear Peggy S. over course and distance Sept. 18, just missed by a head in her latest going two turns over grass in Keeneland's GII JP Morgan Chase Jessamine S. Oct. 13.

“We gave her a break and she has grown and developed well. We're happy with the way she's worked,” trainer Patrick Biancone said. “It's a comeback race. She is not perhaps 100% yet but it's time to come back and prepare for the spring.”

Girl With a Dream (Practical Joke) enters riding a two-race winning streak for Brad Cox, led by a wire-to-wire tally in the Letellier Memorial S. at Fair Grounds last time Dec. 27.

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Unbeaten Radio Days Faces Diamond Wow In Forward Gal

Trainer Patrick Biancone had options when deciding on how Diamond Wow would kick off her 3-year-old season Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The promising 3-year-old filly shares a family trait with multiple graded-stakes winner Diamond Oops that allowed Biancone to choose between the $100,000 Forward Gal (G3), a seven-furlong dash for sophomore fillies on the main track, and the $100,000 Sweetest Chant (G3), a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies, on Saturday's 12-race program that will be headlined by the $250,000 Holy Bull (G3).

Biancone, who owns Diamond Wow with Diamond 100 Racing Club LLC and Amy Dunne, would eventually opt for the Forward Gal.

The daughter Lookin At Lucky is out of a half-sister to the Biancone-trained Diamond Oops, a multiple graded-stakes winner on both turf and dirt. She has already demonstrated signs of uncommon versatility in her short three-race career, in which she debuted with a victory in Aug. 28 turf sprint before capturing the off-the-turf Our Dear Peggy at seven furlongs a month later at Gulfstream. The Kentucky-bred homebred closed out her juvenile campaign with a courageous second-place finish in the Jessamine (G2) at Keeneland, where she lost by only a head after breaking from the No. 13 post.

“We gave her a break and she has grown and developed well. We're happy with the way she's worked,” Biancone said. “It's a comeback race. She is not perhaps 100 percent yet but it's time to come back and prepare for the spring.”

Following the Jessamine, Biancone made the decision to bypass the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) or Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).

“It was coming up a bit quick and she was a bit stiff, and I guess she had a growth spurt. We got lucky to get beat because if we did not get beat by a nose, then we would have gotten invited and we may have been forced to go,” Biancone said. “My owner was very kind to be on the safe side and it was a good thing. It was tough to make the decision but at the end of the day, we were very happy.”

Romero Maragh, who guided her to her two wins at Gulfstream before Mike Smith took over for the Jessamine, returns aboard Diamond Wow.

Allen Stable Inc.'s Radio Days is also scheduled to make her 3-year-old debut in the Forward Gall after going 2-for-2 last season.

“She's a filly we're really excited about. Her first two races have been really good,” Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said. “She's had a little bit of a break now. She's going to run Saturday, and hopefully her future is ahead of her.”

The daughter of Gun Runner won at first asking with a late rally in a six-furlong dash over a sloppy Belmont Park track Oct. 31 before overcoming a bump at the break to win a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance Dec. 2 at Aqueduct by 8 ½ lengths.

“She had always trained well,” McGaughey said. “We were hoping she'd run well first time out – the type of race she ran.”

Dylan Davis, who was aboard for her first two wins, travels from New York to ride Radio Days in the Forward Gal.

Jim Bakke and Gerry Isbister's Girl With a Dream is venturing from Fair Grounds for trainer Brad Cox for the Forward Gal. The daughter of Practical Joke captured the Dec. 27 six-furlong Letellier Memorial at Fair Grounds last time out.

Luis Saez is scheduled to ride Girl With a Dream for the first time Saturday.

Repole Stable's Greatitude is scheduled to make her stakes debut Saturday after graduating by 2 ¾ lengths in her second career start Dec. 19 at Gulfstream. The Todd Pletcher-trained daughter of Dialed In finished second in her Nov. 23 debut at Aqueduct behind McGaughey-trained Kathleen O, who came back to win the Jan. 1 Cash Run Stakes at Gulfstream.

Irad Ortiz Jr. is slated to ride Greatitude for the first time Saturday.

Monarch Stable Inc.'s Last Leaf, who finished fourth against the colts in the Limehouse last time out, returns in the Forward Gal. The Ron Spatz-trained daughter of Not This Time has won on both turf and dirt.

Miguel Vasquez has the call aboard the Last Leaf, who won the Hollywood Beach Stakes on turf against males in September.

Cash Is King LLC and LC Racing LLC's Disco Ebo, a state-bred stakes winner at Parx; and Palm Beach Racing Partnership's She's So Beautiful, who captured the Juvenile Filly Sprint for Florida-breds three starts back; are also entered in the Forward Gal.

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Biancone Confirms Diamond Wow Will Target BC Juvenile Fillies Turf

Diamond Wow, second in the Oct. 13 Grade 2 Jessamine at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., is being pointed towards a start in the Nov. 5 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., confirmed trainer Patrick Biancone Sunday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith has the mount on the daughter of Lookin At Lucky, who fell a head short of holding off California Angel in the Keeneland turf stakes for 2-year-old fillies.

Diamond Wow, who won her debut on turf before scoring in the off-the-turf My Dear Peggy Stakes at Gulfstream in her first two career starts, breezed six furlongs in 1:12 over a yielding turf at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach Country, Sunday morning. Romero Maragh, who rode the Kentucky-bred filly in her two local victories, was aboard for the breeze.

“She's going. She had a very good workout,” said Biancone, who owns Diamond Wow in partnership with Diamond 100 Racing Club LLC and Amy Dunne. “She wore a small blinker. I don't like to put blinkers on young horses right away, but Mike said she was looking around a little [in the Jessamine]. Her whole family is like that.”

Diamond Wow is out of the Hat Trick mare Patriotic Diamond, a half-sister to Biancone-trained millionaire Diamond Oops, a multiple Grade 2 stakes winner who is also multiple Grade 1 stakes-placed.

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Jessamine Runner-Up Diamond Wow Possible For Breeders’ Cup

Diamond Wow, a valiant runner-up in Wednesday's Jessamine (G2) at Keeneland, is a possibility for the Nov. 5 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) at Del Mar, said trainer Patrick Biancone Thursday morning.

Although the daughter of Lookin At Lucky came up just a head short of winning an automatic and fees-paid berth into the Juvenile Fillies Turf Wednesday, she proved herself to be a prime Breeders' Cup candidate.

“It's a possibility. She's going to come back home Saturday, and we'll decide from there,” said Biancone, whose stable is based at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County. “We don't want to force her. If she's really well, we may go.”

Biancone's daughter and assistant, Andie, who accompanied Diamond Wow to Keeneland and saddled the daughter of Lookin At Lucky, was pleased with the manner in which she exited the 1 1/16-mile turf event.

“She said she came out good,” Biancone said. “She took the race well.”

Scratched out of last last Friday's Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland after drawing the No. 11 post position, Diamond Wow – as (bad) luck would have it – drew the far-outside No 14 post for the Jessamine.

Diamond Wow rated off the early pace while racing four-wide before kicking in through the stretch to gain a narrow lead over odds-on pacesetter Turnerloose nearing the wire, only to be caught by wide and charging California Angel.

“[She ran] around the ducks, like in the morning,” Biancone quipped.

Diamond Oops went into the Jessamine undefeated in two starts at Gulfstream Park, where she scored a three-length debut victory in a five-furlong turf race Aug. 28 before scoring a 1 ¾-length triumph in the off-the-turf Our Dear Peggy Stakes at seven furlongs Sept. 18.

“To be honest with you, in that family, the good ones come to form early. The mother was like that – she won a stakes as a 2-year-old. Diamond Oops, the three-quarter brother, won at 2,” Biancone said. “I know she's going to improve. She's naturally and extremely talented. She's a very, very good filly.”

Diamond Wow, who is owned by Diamond 100 Racing Club LLC, Amy Dunne and Biancone, is out of Patriotic Diamond, a daughter of Hat Trick who broke her maiden in the Generous Portion Stakes at Del Mar in her second career start. Patriotic Diamond is a half-sister to Biancone-trained Diamond Oops, a multiple graded-stakes winner with more than $1.3 million in purse earning.

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