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Pete’s Play Call Hits Paydirt In Gravesend After Recent Claim By Rudy Rodriguez

Michael Dubb's Pete's Play Call started his 8-year-old campaign the same way he concluded 2020, saving his best for the stretch in registering a victory in Saturday's 62nd running of the $100,000 Gravesend for 4-year-olds and up at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Pete's Play Call outkicked Stan the Man by 2 1/2 lengths to win his first start since being claimed for $62,500 out of a win on November 27 at the Big A. Now trained by Rudy Rodriguez, the gelded son of Munnings was forwardly placed in second position behind Happy Farm, who led the five-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in 23.09 seconds on the muddy and sealed main track.

Under jockey Jorge Vargas, Jr., Pete's Play Call overtook Happy Farm, with the half-clocked in 46.99, and held the advantage out of the turn, taking position near the center of the track. Stan the Man, the runner-up of the Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap last out on November 29 on the same track, made a late bid under rider Eric Cancel. But Pete's Play Call pressed to the wire, completing 6 ½ furlongs in a final time of 1:17.63.

“Rudy told me he was going to run big today and he did. All credit to him, he had him ready off the claim,” said Vargas, Jr., who won two races on the card. “I was pretty happy where I was and when I asked him, he took off. He's quick. I was just trying to keep him happy and where he was comfortable.”

Off at 4-1, Pete's Play Call [bred in Maryland by Mr. and Mrs. Charles McGinnes] returned $10.20 on a $2 win bet. He improved his career earnings to $648,421. It was his first stakes win since the Bonapaw in December 2019 at Fair Grounds.

“He was training very good. He's a hard-knocking horse,” Rodriguez said. “He's been doing very well since we claimed him. I thought we paid top dollar for him, but seeing him working in the morning, it looked like he was worth every penny.”

Stan the Man, owned by Long Lake Stable and trained by John Terranova, finished 3 ¼ lengths the best of Drafted for second. My Boy Tate, the 7-5 favorite, and Happy Farm completed the order of finish.

“He handled the track good,” Cancel said. “He's a good horse and goes with everything. He doesn't have any excuse. He just got beat by a horse that was ready to run and never gave up.

“I was comfortable with where I was and I made the move when I had to,” he added. “The horse reacted quick with it, but the horse that beat us never gave up.”

Live racing resumes Sunday at Aqueduct with a nine-race card headlined by the $100,000 La Verdad for New York-bred fillies and mares 4-year-olds and up in Race 8. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern.

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Drain The Clock Rebounds With 7 1/2-Length Limehouse Stakes Score

Slam Dunk Racing's Drain the Clock made a triumphant return to Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., Saturday, putting an unfortunate trip out of town behind him with a dazzling 7 ½-length victory in the $75,000 Limehouse Stakes.

The Limehouse, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds, was one of five stakes on Saturday's 11-race program that was headlined by the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man, a mile stakes for 3-year-olds that was the first stop on the Road to the Florida Derby (G1).

Drain the Clock registered the first stakes victory of his career that he launched with back-to-back victories at Gulfstream before making an unfortunate trip to Delta Downs for the Jean Lafitte Stakes, in which the rider was unseated due to a broken iron.

“It was really impressive. He impressed me today,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “He was always highly thought of. He was impressive in his debut. His second win was more workmanlike than impressive. Last time, it was a bit of a mishap. We got him back today and he showed up.”

Drain the Clock, the 9-5 favorite, was rated just off the pace set by Warrior's Pride, who posted fractions of 21.78 and 44.83 seconds while showing the way for the first half-mile. Edgard Zayas sent Drain the Clock after the pacesetter on the turn into the homestretch, and the son of Maclean's Music produced a powerful kick to pull away from the field.

“It was a pretty smooth trip. He broke sharp out of the gate. My only worry was that he was moving a little bit in the gate, but everything worked out really well,” Zayas said. “I was just trying to keep him in the clear and he did it all.”

Drain the Clock ran six furlongs in 1:10.11. Tiger finished second under Luis Saez, 1 ¾ lengths ahead of Runway Magic and jockey Julien Leparoux.

Competitive Speed Gives Trainer 1st U.S. Stakes Win in Glitter Woman
John Minchello's Competitive Speed scored a 9-1 upset in Saturday's $75,000 Glitter Woman at Gulfstream Park, providing trainer Javier Gonzalez his first stakes success in the U. S.

“It's my first stakes here. We started the year on the right step. It seems to me that we will have some good things happen this year,” said Gonzalez, who has saddled multiple graded-stakes winners in Puerto Rico.

Hit the Woah, the 3-5 favorite ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., broke poorly from the starting gate and was never a factor while finishing fourth.

Competitive Speed ($20) collected her third straight victory with an off-the-pace performance in the 6 ½-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies. Shop Girl broke alertly, unlike her stablemate in the Christophe Clement barn, to show the way along the backstretch and around the far turn while setting fractions of 22.49 and 45.49 seconds for the first half mile. Competitive Speed launched a three-wide drive on the far turn under Leonel Reyes and set her sights on the pacesetter on the turn into the stretch. The daughter of Competitive Edge overtook Shop Girl approaching the 1/8-pole to capture her stakes debut by three lengths, completing the 6 ½ furlongs in 1:17.08.

Shop Girl, ridden by Luis Saez, finished second, 6 ½ lengths ahead of Gone to Cabo.

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Jolie Olimpica Set To Defend Title In Jan. 9 Las Cienegas

Richard Mandella has a busy weekend coming up at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., with Jolie Olimpica and Superstition ticketed for next Saturday's Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes for older fillies and mares going six furlongs on turf, and Amuse set for next Sunday's $75,000 Kalookan Queen Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 ½ furlongs on the main track.

Jolie Olimpica, a 5-year-old Brazilian-bred mare, will be making her first start since last July 11 when she finished second in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland. Mike Smith retains the mount. She won the Las Cienegas in her U.S. debut on Jan. 11, 2020, having been unbeaten and untested in three previous races in her native country.

Superstition, a 4-year-old daughter of 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, makes her stakes debut after two straight victories at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar. Flavien Prat rides.

Amuse, a 6-year-old Medaglia d'Oro mare, last raced on Sept. 25, 2020, finishing third by a length in the G3 Chillingworth Stakes under Drayden Van Dyke, who will be back aboard in the Kalookan Queen.

“She just needed a break,” said the Hall of Fame trainer in explaining her absence of three-plus months.

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Stakes Warriors Mr. Buff, Sunny Ridge Gearing Up For Kimmel At Big A

Trainer John Kimmel said Chester and Mary Broman's popular New York-homebred Mr. Buff could make his next start in the open nine-furlong Jazil on January 23.

Mr. Buff finished second to Bankit last out in the nine-furlong Alex M. Robb on December 12 at the Big A.

The 7-year-old Friend Or Foe gelding posted a record of 8-3-2-0 in 2020, including scores in the Jazil and Haynesfield at Aqueduct and the Empire Classic at Belmont. He entered the Alex M. Robb, a race he won by 7 ½-lengths in 2019, off of one week's rest from a fifth in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap.

Kimmel said he may have been ambitious in the quick turnaround to the Alex M. Robb with the Queens Country, won by Backsideofthemoon on December 19, also an option for the sizable chestnut.

“He was tired after that last race,” said Kimmel. “I walked him for a week and jogged him for a week since. I probably would have been better off waiting for the Queens County. But he's doing fine.”

Kimmel said Dennis Drazin's 8-year-old New Jersey-homebred Sunny Ridge, a $1.4 million earning son of Holy Bull, is close to a return.

The multiple graded stakes winner last raced in January 2020 when third in the Grade 3 Toboggan at the Big A. He returned to the work tab in November and has breezed five times on the Belmont dirt training track, including a half-mile in 50.04 on December 28.

“He's probably three weeks away from running,” said Kimmel. “He's doing OK. I'd like to find an allowance race for him in the next book.”

Sunny Ridge won the 2016 Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct and a year later took the Jazil and Stymie on the Ozone Park oval. He became a multiple graded-stakes winner in 2019 with a score in the Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park.

Tobey L. Morton's Mandatory, a 4-year-old American Pharoah chestnut purchased for $400,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select 2-year-olds in Training Sale, stretches out to nine furlongs in Sunday's third race for maidens 4-years-old and up at Aqueduct when returning from more than a year layoff.

“I couldn't get a sprint race to go. It would have been preferable to run him in a shorter race off a year layoff,” said Kimmel.

Out of the multiple stakes winning Lost Soldier mare Chit Chatter, Mandatory is a half-brother to multiple Grade 1-winner I'm a Chatterbox. The chestnut colt, with blinkers on, breezed a sharp half-mile from the gate in 47.64 on December 27 on the dirt training track. Mandatory will be first-time blinkers in Sunday's return with Dylan Davis at the helm.

“He's performed very well in the mornings with blinkers on and has been very sharp,” said Kimmel. “He's a very well-bred horse and I've always liked him, it's just taken awhile to get him to the point where I've been happy with him.

“He's had a chronic hind end issue,” continued Kimmel. “I gave him time off and started him back but it showed up again, so I gave him all of Saratoga off and knock wood he's not had any issues since then. He's been breezing right along and breezing well.”

Mandatory made his first two starts at Belmont in 2019, finishing third in his September 28 debut at six furlongs and fifth last out on October 26 when stretched out to 1 1/16-miles.

“I don't think he has distance limitations,” said Kimmel. “His first race was pretty impressive considering he got left and then made a good late run going six furlongs. He ran flat the first time I stretched him out to a mile, so I'd say something was starting to bug him at that point as he didn't come out of that race all that great. He never did have surgery, he just had time off.”

Kimmel said he is hopeful of a good showing from Mandatory.

“We think he's a damn nice horse and he's super well bred. He's a half-brother to a really good filly,” said Kimmel.

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