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Maxim Rate Upsets the Gamely

Maxim Rate (Exchange Rate) strode to the lead inside the final furlong and held off the late-closing duo of La Signare (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and Bodhicitta (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) to score the first Grade I victory of her career in the GI Gamely S. at Santa Anita Monday. Dismissed at 13-1, Maxim Rate rated kindly in fourth while racing one off the rail as heavily favored Charmaine's Mia (The Factor) took the field through fractions of :22.82 and :45.94. Maxim Rate ranged up three wide at the top of the stretch and closed determinedly down the lane, reeling in the tiring pacesetter before holding the late runners safe to the wire.

“We knew she was training really well coming into this race,” said winning trainer Simon Callaghan. “We felt that the set up would be perfect. A mile and an eighth, back here in California, I think is totally her game. We had some speed to run at and it actually turned out exactly how we wrote up the race.”

Maxim Rate was second behind Mucho Unusual (Mucho Macho Man) in last year's GI Rodeo Drive S. before winning the Oct. 25 GII Goldikova S. She ended 2020 with a fifth-place effort in the Nov. 29 GI Matriarch S. In her only previous 2021 outing, the 5-year-old mare was fifth in the Apr. 10 GI Coolmore Jenny Wiley S. at Keeneland.

“The Grade I was our main aim and to pull it off is fantastic for all of the owners, all of the Slam Dunk Team, everyone involved,” Callaghan said. “Now, we'll just space the races out and it will be nice to get to the Breeders' Cup.”

Pedigree Notes:

Maxim Rate's Gamely win gave her broodmare sire Unbridled's Song his 27th Grade I victory.

Catch My Eye, a full-sister to the dam of 2017 G3 UAE Oaks winner Nomorerichblondes (Hard Spun), has an unraced 2-year-old colt by Violence who RNA'd for $150,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. The mare produced a colt by Street Sense last year and was bred back to More Than Ready.

Monday, Santa Anita

GAMELY S.-GI, $301,000, Santa Anita, 5-31, 3yo/up, f/m,
1 1/8mT, 1:46.61, fm.
1–MAXIM RATE, 124, m, 5, by Exchange Rate
1st Dam: Catch My Eye, by Unbridled's Song
2nd Dam: Sharp Eyes, by Storm Cat
3rd Dam: Gaelic Bird (Fr), by Gay Mecene
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($130,000 Wlg '16 KEENOV; $235,000 Ylg
'17 KEESEP). O-Slam Dunk Racing, Stable Currency LLC & James
D Branham; B-Fred W Hertrich III & John D Fielding (KY);
T-Simon Callaghan; J-Juan J Hernandez. $180,000. Lifetime
Record: 16-6-3-0, $597,185. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–La Signare (Fr), 122, m, 6, by Siyouni (Fr)
1st Dam: La Teranga (Fr), by Beat Hollow (GB)
2nd Dam: Adrastea (Ire), by Monsun (Ger)
3rd Dam: Akasma (Ger), by Windwurf (Ger)
O-Madaket Stables LLC, Tim & Anna Cambron & Bradley
Thoroughbreds; B-Moussa Mbacke (FR); T-Brendan P Walsh.
$60,000.
3–Bodhicitta (GB), 124, m, 5, by Showcasing (GB)
1st Dam: Solfilia (GB), by Teofilo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Suntory (Ire), by Royal Applause (GB)
3rd Dam: Klarifi (GB), by Habitat
(£55,000 Ylg '17 GOUKPR; £100,000 2yo '18 GOFBRE;
60,000gns 3yo '19 TATHIT; $775,000 RNA 4yo '20 FTKNOV).
O-Calvin Nguyen; B-Fonthill Farms & Mr & Mrs A Scott (GB);
T-Richard Baltas. $36,000.
Margins: HF, HF, NK. Odds: 13.90, 4.80, 12.80.
Also Ran: Keeper Ofthe Stars, Going to Vegas, Charmaine's Mia, Red Lark (Ire). Scratched: Raymundos Secret, Stela Star (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Drain The Clock Under Wraps Taking Bay Shore As Heavy Favorite

Saturday's stakes action at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y., kicked off when Drain the Clock solidified his 1-5 favoritism while capturing his second graded stakes triumph, going gate-to-wire in the Grade 3, $200,000 Bay Shore for 3-year-olds.

The Maclean's Music chestnut colt cut back in distance for the seven-furlong sprint after finishing second in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on February 27 at Gulfstream Park.

Drain the Clock was a step slow leaving the gate under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., but quickly established command. Two-time winning Parx invader Beren, who stumbled at the start, kept close company to the outside in second as Drain the Clock led the compact five-horse field through opening fractions of 23.68 and 47.97 seconds over the fast main track.

Around the turn, Drain the Clock extended his advantage as Beren began to relinquish. Ortiz, Jr. got busy aboard his charge nearing the quarter pole and opened up a 4 ½-length lead in upper stretch.

Drain the Clock lugged out slightly nearing the furlong marker as Ortiz, Jr. went to the left hand with Whiskey Double launching a late bid to the outside. By the sixteenth pole, Ortiz, Jr. had Drain the Clock under wraps as he strolled past the finish line a 1 3/4-length winner in a final time of 1:25.97. Whiskey Double made up considerable ground to get second, 5 3/4 lengths ahead of Too Boss in third.

Beren and Garoppolo rounded out the order of finish.

Owned by Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables and Michael Nentwig, Drain the Clock improved his record to 7-5-1-0, with his other graded stakes win coming two starts back in the Grade 3 Swale on January 30 at Gulfstream Park, which also was at seven furlongs.

“He just wants to break out of there. He broke a little [slow] out of there but he put himself right away into the race and took me to the lead,” said Ortiz, Jr., who returned to New York fresh off a riding title at Gulfstream Park. “I let him relax and then I asked him to go and he was running hard to the wire.”

The victory was a first graded stakes win in New York for Florida-based trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr., who will have a string at Belmont Park this summer for the first time.

“I thought he kicked away well at the top of the lane and did what he had to do. If you ease up on him, he's going to relax,” Joseph, Jr. said. “The five [Beren] didn't get a good break, unfortunately, and we didn't get pressed. If that horse went, we were going to sit. He's a very versatile horse and he doesn't need the lead.”

A NYRA Grade 1 could be in order for Drain the Clock, as Joseph, Jr. listed the $400,000 Woody Stephens on June 5 at Belmont Park and the $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 28 at Saratoga as long terms goals for the talented colt.

“I'll talk it over with the ownership group. The Woody Stephens was in play even before this race but this puts it even more up there,” Joseph, Jr. said. “It's definitely on the radar. The Woody Stephens and Allen Jerkens are the types of races you want to be in. If we could win one it would be nice, if we could win both it would be great.”

Bred in Kentucky by Nick Cosato, Drain the Clock is the third offspring out of the Arch mare Manki, whose two other progeny of racing age are winners.

Drain the Clock banked $110,000 in victory while improving his lifetime earnings to $319,550. He returned $2.70 for a $2 win ticket.

Live racing resumes Thursday at Aqueduct with an eight-race card. First post is 1:20 p.m. Eastern.

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Drain The Clock Overcomes Recent Colic, Dominates Swale Stakes At Gulfstream

Drain the Clock kept on ticking in Saturday's $100,000 Claiborne Farm Swale (G3) at Gulfstream Park, running his South Florida record to 4-for-4 with a dominating 6 ¼-length triumph.

The Swale, a seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds, was featured on a 12-race program with five graded stakes, headlined by the $200,000 Holy Bull (G3).

Drain the Clock, whose only loss in five career starts came at Delta Downs when his rider was unseated after a rein broke, was particularly impressive Saturday when it was revealed that the son of Maclean's Music was treated for a case of colic less than two weeks earlier.

“He made it easy today, but 12 days ago he colicked really bad and went to the clinic. Thank God, he got there, and he was good,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “To see him win like that today – he's a good horse. We had to make the call after he breezed on Tuesday. There was no pressure to run. He worked good Tuesday and didn't give us any reason to say, 'no.'”

Owned by Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Racing Stables LLC, Wonder Stables and Michael Nentwig, Drain the Clock was sent to post as the even-money favorite in a field of six on the strength of his 7 ½-length victory in the six-furlong Limehouse Stakes Jan. 2 at Gulfstream. The Kentucky-bred colt broke alertly from the starting gate to rate outside pacesetter Poppy's Pride, who set fractions of 22.48 and 45.27 seconds for the first half-mile. Drain the Clock moved effortless to the lead under Edgar Zayas on the turn into the stretch and continued on to score a comfortable victory.

Drain the Clock ran seven furlongs in 1:23.29 after being taken under wraps approaching the finish.

“I'm very impressed. He's just improving every race. He's such an easy horse to ride. He breaks out of the gate like a rocket and positions himself in a perfect spot, and when it's time to run he kicks on. He's a really nice horse,” Zayas said. “I think he's maturing a lot. He's running way more straight and more focused into the race. Sometimes inside the gate he was a little nervous but today he was awesome. I think he's improving; hopefully he can stretch out his speed a little bit more.”

King's Ovation and Ultimate Badger, the longest and second-longest shots on the board, finishes second and third for trainer Dale Romans.

Drain the Clock won his Sept. 12 debut in a five-furlong off-the-turf race at Gulfstream by six lengths and came right back to win a first-level optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream Park West. Favored in the Nov. 30 Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs, Drain the Clock lost his rider after a rein broke during the race, but has rebounded nicely with back-to-back scores in the Limehouse and Swale.

The $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) Feb. 27 at Gulfstream Park will be taken into consideration for Drain the Clock's next start, Joseph said.

“Everything will be under consideration. We'll talk to the owners, obviously, but there's no pressure to push that route. If everything goes good, I'm sure we'll try it,” Joseph said. “He looks like he'll get further.”

The 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth is the major prep for the $750,000 Curlin Florida Derby presented by Hill 'n Dale at Xalapa.

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Maclean’s Music Colt Crushes Swale Competition

Drain the Clock (Maclean's Music) built on a 7 1/2-length thrashing of his rivals in the Jan. 2 Limehouse S. with yet another wide-margin victory while making his graded stakes debut in Saturday's GIII Claiborne Farm Swale S. at Gulfstream Park.

The chestnut won the break and led through the opening exchanges, but was content to allow the fleet Poppy's Pride (Khozan) to slide through and take up the running passing the five-furlong pole. Clocking that one's every move beneath a very confident Edgard Zayas, Drain the Clock was allowed to stride into the lead with five-sixteenths of a mile to race, pinched an unassailable advantage and was taken in hand for the better part of the final 70 yards. King's Ovation (Not This Time) made eye-catching inside progress three furlongs out, was steadied slightly between Poppy's Pride and Likeable (Frosted) in upper stretch and ran home gamely, then galloped out past the winner.

Drain the Clock gave his connections a bit of a scare in the last couple of weeks.

“He made it easy today, but 12 days ago he colicked really bad and went to the clinic. Thank God, he got there, and he was good,” winning trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “To see him win like that today–he's a good horse. We had to make the call after he breezed on Tuesday (4f in :50 3/5]. There was no pressure to run. He worked good Tuesday and didn't give us any reason to say, 'no.'”

A six-length debut winner in a local rained-off maiden Sept. 12, Drain the Clock overcame some trouble at the start to add a non-two-lifetime allowance at Gulfstream West Oct. 28. The even-money choice for the Nov. 30 Jean Lafitte S. at Delta Downs, Drain the Clock dropped his rider after an iron snapped, but he bounced back in no uncertain terms in the Limehouse.

Drain the Clock was bred by Nick Cosato and had heretofore been campaigned in the name of his Slam Dunk Racing. Madaket, Wonder Stables and Michael Nentwig were part of the ownership for the first time Saturday. Drain the Clock is possible for the GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. Feb. 27, a race that would represent his first try at a distance of ground.

Pedigree Notes:

One of 21 black-type winners for his Hill 'n' Dale-based stallion, Drain the Clock becomes the fifth winner at the graded level for Maclean's Music. While he has show an affinity for the main track, it would be little surprise to see Drain the Clock on the turf at some point, as his Group 3-winning third dam was responsible for Prince Fahd bin Salman's Midnight Line (Kris S.), third in the 1998 G1 Vodafone Oaks for Clive Brittain and later a Grade II winner and multiple Grade I-placed in North America while under the care of Neil Drysdale. Midnight Line is the dam of MGSW & MG1SP Communique (Ire) (Casamento {Ire}). Manki aborted to Mr Speaker in 2019, but is the dam of a yearling Mineshaft colt and is currently due to Vino Rosso.

Saturday, Gulfstream Park
CLAIBORNE FARM SWALE S.-GIII, $100,000, Gulfstream, 1-30, 3yo, 7f, 1:23.29, ft.
1–DRAIN THE CLOCK, 120, c, 3, by Maclean's Music
1st Dam: Manki, by Arch
2nd Dam: Private Ice (GB), by Pivotal (GB)
3rd Dam: Midnight Air, by Green Dancer
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O-Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket
Stables LLC, Wonder Stables & Michael Nentwig; B-Nick Cosato
(KY); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.; J-Edgard J. Zayas. $61,380. Lifetime
Record: 5-4-0-0, $152,550. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–King's Ovation, 118, c, 3, Not This Time–Karen's Silk, by High
Cotton. ($100,000 Wlg '18 KEENOV; $100,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP;
$200,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR). O-West Point Thoroughbreds &
Peacock Stable (Tom Hammond); B-Roxanne Martin Stable Inc.
(KY); T-Dale L. Romans. $19,800.
3–Ultimate Badger, 120, c, 3, Commissioner–El Rebecca, by El
Corredor. ($12,000 Ylg '19 FTKFEB; $140,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP).
O-Jim Bakke & Gerald Isbister; B-Erv Woolsey & Ralph Kinder
(KY); T-Dale L. Romans. $9,900.
Margins: 6 1/4, 3, 2. Odds: 1.10, 36.10, 19.20.
Also Ran: Likeable, Poppy's Pride, By George.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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