HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Carlos Martin said his father, Jose Martin, taught him it was usually best to give his 2-year-olds turning 3 a break during the winter. However, his grandfather, Hall of Fame horseman Frank “Pancho” Martin, ascribed to the theory of never stopping on a horse when they were doing well.
The younger Martin found himself weighing both of those options when it came to deciding what to do next with his stakes-placed juvenile Glorious Boy. He ultimately opted to adhere to both theories, beginning with a trip to Gulfstream Park to compete in Friday’s $100,000 Pulpit Stakes.
The Pulpit will be decided at 7 1/2 furlongs on turf. Along with Glorious Boy, the Pulpit lured eight other 2-year-olds, including stakes winner Behold the King and a trio of key contenders from trainer Jose D’Angelo – Skipping Stars, Uncle Aldo, and Bronze Bullet. The Pulpit will be run as the finale on a nine-race program with first post at 12:20 p.m.
Glorious Boy was purchased by Martin’s uncle Greg Martin for Centurian Thoroughbred Club and became a much improved horse after being gelded, adding blinkers, and most importantly switching to turf following a couple of average efforts on dirt to begin his career.
A son of Independence Hall, Glorious Boy rallied from near the rear of the field to win a maiden special weight dash at six furlongs when making his first turf start Sept. 28 at Aqueduct. He then stepped into stakes company to finish second behind D’Angelo’s gate-to-wire winner Throckmorton in the six-furlong Awad earlier this month at Aqueduct.
“He was never really focused on dirt, so we gelded him, added blinkers, gave him a chance on grass, and it’s worked out well,” Carlos Martin said. “I don’t know who he beat when he won his maiden, but he looked good doing it. As a trainer, you always pray for a small field, and we got just that with only four starters in the Awad. Although in the end it may have actually hurt our chances because the winner got loose on an easy lead and they went around like a merry-go-round in that race.”
At that point, Martin had to make the decision whether to send Glorious Boy right to the farm or give him one more opportunity to become a stakes winner before turning him out this winter.
“He came out of the race great, the owners wanted to run him once more, and we figured Gulfstream Park is only a couple of hours from Ocala, where he’s going to wind up eventually this winter anyway,” Martin said. “The race didn’t seem to come up that tough. Two turns is always a question mark the first time, but off the 72 Beyer he got in the Awad, it surely looks like he’s as good as anybody in that field.”
Behold the King, trained by Mark Casse, is the most accomplished member of the lineup, having captured 2 of 5 career starts including the Armed Forces Stakes by a half-length over Skipping Stars here Nov. 1. He also had another apparent victory taken away via disqualification on Aug. 29 at Colonial Downs.
Behold the King sat a perfect stalking trip before tipping three wide turning for home and ultimately wearing down Skipping Stars through the late stages of the one-mile Armed Forces.
Of the D’Angelo trio, only Skipping Stars has previous experience around two turns. He fought on gamely along the rail in the Armed Forces after setting or contesting all the pace. Skipping Stars will break from the outside, in post 9, while turning back a half-furlong for the Pulpit.
“He’s not a sprinter but he’s not really a two-turn horse either, which is why seven and a half furlongs should be perfect for him,” D’Angelo said. “The hardest thing is the post. The key for him is going to be the break.”
Uncle Aldo also is expected to show early speed stretching out around two turns for the first time while breaking from the rail. Uncle Aldo shipped to New York to win a maiden race in wire-to-wire fashion on Oct. 16 at Aqueduct.
Bronze Bullet has a win and a second in two starts but will be stretching out a quarter-mile farther than he has ever raced while also making his first start on turf. He will race without blinkers for the first time in the Pulpit.
Shipmate also figures to be prominent early while stretching out an extra quarter-mile off a relatively well-graded 5 1/2-furlong maiden win over the Tapeta in his last start.
Northern invaders A Million Dreams, Sunrise, and Chalky White, all of whom have previous stakes experience and have already started around two turns, round out the well-matched lineup.
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