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Maker Records Another Claiming Success With Last Judgment In Challenger

Trainer Michael Maker has a history of turning mid- to high-priced claiming acquisitions into graded stakes winners and Last Judgment is just the latest to join that roll of success stories. The 5-year-old gelding by Congrats, claimed for $62,500 last October at Belmont Park, registered a 2 3/4-length wire-to-wire victory in Saturday's Grade 3 Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, the first of four graded stakes at the Oldsmar, Fla., track culminating with the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby.

Ridden by Daniel Centeno, Last Judgment was never headed, setting fractions of :23.29, :47.41, 1:11.37 and 1:35.62 en route to a final clocking of 1:41.98 for 1 1/16 miles on a fast track.

Last Judgment paid $4.80 as the 7-5 co-favorite in the field of five older runners. Modernist finished second, with the other 7-5 co-favorite, War Stopper, 1 3/4 lengths behind in third. War Stopper was followed across the finish by Letmeno and Jungle Fighter.

“It looked like he should be forwardly placed and that's how the race was run,” said Maker. “He seemed to be well within himself the whole way. He got into a nice rhythm and kept it going. We tried to chase Knicks Go in the Pegasus. I'll try to spot him more appropriately the rest of the year.”

Last Judgment won one of three starts since Maker haltered him for Michael Dubb, Steve Hornstock, Bethlehem Stables and Nice Guys Stables but was coming off a 12 3/4-length drubbing at the hands of Knicks Go as a 41-1 outsider in the Pegasus. He raced second behind the frontrunning winner that day before tiring in the stretch.

“Mike's instructions were to take the lead and he broke really sharp and made an easy lead all the way to the wire,” said Centeno. “(Letmeno) got a little close to me past the half-mile pole, but my horse grabbed the bit again and I knew I had plenty of horse left. It looks like he can run all day. It's nice when you get a lead like that and the horse is enjoying being out there all by himself.”

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‘He’s Ready To Go’: Maker Breezes Fire At Will For Fountain Of Youth

Three Diamonds Farm's Fire At Will breezed five furlongs Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., while tuning up for a scheduled start in next Saturday's $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2).

The 3-year-old son of Declaration of War, who captured the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) Nov. 6 at Keeneland, was timed in 1:02.75 in his seventh breeze in preparation for his 2021 debut in the key prep for the $750,000 Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n Dale at Xalapa March 27 at Gulfstream.

“Everything went smooth,” trainer Michael Maker said. “He's ready to go.”

After finishing sixth on turf in his Aug. 8 debut at Saratoga, Fire At Will broke his maiden in the Sept. 2 With Anticipation Stakes over a sealed sloppy main track at the Spa. The Kentucky-bred colt went back to turf to capture the Oct. 3 Pilgrim (G2) at Belmont by two lengths and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf by three lengths.

Fire At Will has yet to run on a fast main track.

“It's a tough task, whether he's a dirt horse or a turf horse, but he's earned the chance,” Maker said.

At Palm Beach Downs, WinStar Farm LLC and CHD Inc.'s Prime Factor breezed a half-mile in 48.69 seconds Sunday morning for his scheduled return in the Fountain of Youth. The Todd Pletcher trainee, who finished third in the Jan. 30 Holy Bull (G2) as the favorite, worked in company with Promise Keeper, who broke his maiden impressively at Gulfstream Feb. 6.

“They went head and head in 48-and-change,” Pletcher said. “They went good.”

Prime Factor debuted with a dazzling 8 ¾-length victory at Gulfstream Dec. 12 before taking a giant step up in the Holy Bull, in which he stalked the pace and raced evenly in the stretch to finish a distant third behind victorious Greatest Honour and runner-up Tarantino, both of whom are scheduled to return in the Fountain of Youth.

The 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth will headline a program with nine stakes, including eight graded races.

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Last Judgment Stretches Out To Capture Sunshine Classic

Michael Dubb, Steven Hornstock and Bethlehem Stables LLC and Nice Guys Stable's Last Judgment registered his first career stakes victory Saturday at Gulfstream Park, scoring a front-running 6 ½-length victory in the $75,000 Sunshine Classic at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track.

The Sunshine Classic, a 1 1/8-mile stakes for 4-year-olds and up, was featured among three other stakes for Florida-bred horses, including the Sunshine Sprint, the Sunshine Turf and the Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf. All four stakes offered a $25,000 win-only bonus for starters that are nominated to the Florida Sire Stakes program.

Michael Maker-trained Last Judgment, in his prior start Dec. 19, finished eighth in the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector (G3) – the 5-year-old gelded son of Congrats' first start after being claimed $62,500 at Belmont Park.

“We knew he was a class horse. I followed this horse from the beginning of his career. When he was in for a tag in New York, I had two races in mind. I had this race and the Ocala races, which unfortunately were cancelled due to COVID, so at least we got this,” Dubb said. “He had previous form at Gulfstream, seemed like he liked the track, seemed versatile enough where anywhere from seven furlongs to a mile and an eighth would be in his wheelhouse. Mike Maker is excellent at stretching horses out, so it's nice when it all goes according to plan.”

Last Judgment ($7.80) was hustled to the lead by jockey Jose Ortiz after an alert break from the gate and assumed pacesetting duties around the first turn and along the backstretch, closely stalked by Red Crescent and Kaufy Bean past fractions of 23.84 and 47.57 seconds for the first half mile. While defending champion and 8-5 favorite Noble Drama trailed the field, Last Judgment continued to show the way entering the turn into the homestretch. Noble Drama launched an outside move on the far turn under Emisael Jaramillo to enter contention at the top of the stretch, but Last Judgment kicked away to a comfortable victory.

“He was coming off sprints when he's not able to be on the lead or near it. If he jumped well, I thought he could be near the lead because he's been sprinting,” Ortiz said. “After that he got the lead, he relaxed well. Mike had him prepared.”

Noble Drama held off Roman Empire by a neck to finish second.

Last Judgment ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.76.

“The horse was doing fabulous. We were expecting a better run than he had in the Mr. Prospector. He was stepping up in class, ran into trouble and had a strong gallop-out,” Maker said. “I was under the impression that he would appreciate more distance.”

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Gulfstream Park: $900,000 Guaranteed Jackpot In Wednesday’s Rainbow 6; Maker Scores Four Bagger On Sunday

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $900,000 Wednesday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The popular multi-race wager went unsolved for the 10th day of the Championship Meet Sunday, when multiple tickets with all six winners were each worth $1,206.26.

The jackpot pool is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

The Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 5-10, including four optional claiming allowances and two maiden races on turf.

Multiple graded-stakes winner Social Paranoia headlines Race 9, the 7 ½-furlong turf feature for 3-year-olds and up. Trained by Todd Pletcher, the 4-year-old son of Street Sense hasn't seen action since winning the Poker (G3) at Belmont July 20. Social Paranoia has won twice in three starts over the Gulfstream turf course, including a maiden-breaking score in 2019 and a triumph in the Appleton (G3) on this year's Florida Derby (G1) undercard. Irad Ortiz Jr. has the call.

Mark Casse-trained Olympic Runner, a multiple graded stakes-placed son of Gio Ponti, is also entered in Wednesday's feature. The 4-year-old gelding will make his first start since shipping from Woodbine, where he was twice stakes-placed this year. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount.

There will be a Super Hi-5 carryover of $13,956.76 heading into Wednesday's card.

WHO'S HOT: Trainer Michael Maker sent out four winners on Sunday's program, scoring with Can't Buy Love ($5.20) in Race 4, Chess's Dream ($3.20) in Race 6, Morocco ($7.20) in Race 10 and Phantom Vision ($5.40) in Race 11.

Paco Lopez and Irad Ortiz Jr. each tripled. Lopez scored aboard Foster Hope ($29.60) in Race 3. R Adios Jersey ($3.80) in Race 5 and Lenzi's Lucky Lady ($18.20) in Race 8. Ortiz won aboard Gone to Cabo ($4.60) in Race 2, Chess's Dream ($3.20) in Race 6 and Morocco ($7.20) in Race 10.

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