Led by last term's hard-fought GII Remsen S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), a deep field of nine will line up for Saturday's GIII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream Park.
Owned by Donegal Racing and trained by Todd Pletcher, Mo Donegal outslugged Zandon (Upstart) by a nose after a roughly run stretch drive while making his stakes debut in that aforementioned 1 1/8-mile affair at Aqueduct last time Dec. 4.
“We decided that the Holy Bull was the right starting point,” Pletcher said. “It gives us plenty of options. If he were to run well, we still have the [GII Fasig-Tipton] Fountain of Youth [Mar. 5] to come back in if we wanted to or we could train up to the [GI Curlin] Florida Derby [Apr. 2] like we did with Audible. We kind of felt like it put us in a position to have the most options.”
Pletcher added of the 5-2 morning-line favorite, “I'm really pleased with his training since he came here after the Remsen. We targeted this right away and, knock on wood, thankfully everything has gone according to schedule. He has not missed a beat since he's been here.”
Giant Game (Giant's Causeway) outran his 21-1 odds to complete the trifecta in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar most recently Nov. 5. He previously defeated subsequent GIII Lecomte S. upsetter Call Me Midnight (Midnight Lute) by three lengths in his Keeneland maiden breaker at this same 1 1/16 miles distance Oct. 9.
Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb) returns to dirt after rallying from far back to cross the line a troubled second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. Last term's GII Castle & Key Bourbon S. and Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile S. winner graduated by 14 1/4 lengths in his most recent attempt on dirt in an Ellis Park off-the -turfer last July.
“I thought it was somewhat of an unlucky trip, but he still ran well,” trainer Ken McPeek said of Tiz the Bomb's Breeders' Cup effort. “It was a respectable run. He ran a good race; he split horses and came flying late. The other horse got a little bit of a jump on him.”
The Florida-bred Simplification (Not This Time) could have things his own way on the front end in his two-turn debut here after wiring the one-turn mile Mucho Macho Man S. Jan. 1.
The Holy Bull offers 10-4-2-1 points on the road to the GI Kentucky Derby.
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