Trainer Shug McGaughey should have multiple pace scenarios covered Sunday when he saddles Limited Liability and Cugino in search of his sixth win in the Grade 2, $250,000 Red Smith at the Belmont meet at Aqueduct.
The marathon over 1 3/8 miles on the inner turf is the richest of four stakes on the card. The Grade 3 Forty Niner, Grade 3 Bold Ruler, and Turnback the Alarm also help close out the meet. The four stakes races highlight an 11-race card that begins at 11:35 a.m. Eastern.
McGaughey first won the Red Smith in 2011 and his latest win in the race came last year. His runners Sunday are part of a six-horse field that includes Grade 2 winner Desvio and Woodbine invader Dancin in Da’nile.
Limited Liability is the leading earner in the field as a millionaire. He figures to be making his case from off the pace as he will be cutting back in distance from a start over 2 1/16 miles at Kentucky Downs, where he was third in the Bowling Green Gold Cup Invitational on Aug. 30.
“He’s probably better going a little bit farther, but he was second in this race last year and he’s been doing real well,” McGaughey said. “He’s fresh. He kind of didn’t run his race at Kentucky Downs and we got him back up here and I think he’s been training really, really well. So, we’ll see. It’s kind of the race for him.”
Limited Liability set the pace under Frankie Dettori when he won last year’s Nashville Gold Cup over 2 1/16 miles at Kentucky Downs, but on the turnback Sunday could get a different kind of trip in the Red Smith. Joel Rosario has the mount from post 6,
“He’ll be back off the pace,” McGaughey said. “One thing about him is, he’ll run eight miles. So when he ran last year [at Kentucky Downs under] Dettori, they were [dwaddling] around there and he just went down the backside because he said, ‘I know he’s a route horse. I know he wants to run that far.’ So, I’ll just sort of leave that to Rosario. But I think in a short field like this, I was looking at it, I don’t think he’ll be laying too far away.”
Limited Liability is a son of Kitten’s Joy and the Blame mare Hold Harmless and he races for his breeder, Stuart Janney III.
“He’s a natural route horse,” McGaughey said. “And he shows up. He got beat a couple of time in heartbreakers, at Gulfstream Park last winter and at Keeneland last spring. But he’s been running against some top quality, too.”
Cugino could be prominent in the Red Smith off back-to-back starts at a mile. He was sixth in the Grade 1 Fourstardave on Aug. 2 at Saratoga and won the Red Bank on Sept. 1 at Monmouth Park.
“I’ve been wanting to go a little longer with him,” McGaughey said. “I ran him in Saratoga, the Fourstardave, and should not have run him. My mistake. It was kind of too short for him.
“I came back and ran him short in the Red Bank at Monmouth, but he was the best horse in there, and going in, I kind of knew that. I said, ‘If he halfway runs his race, he’ll be tough against this bunch.’ I think going back a mile and three-eighths, it will be kind of fun to watch him and see how he runs.”
Cugino is a three-time stakes winner who races for West Point Thoroughbreds and Jimmy Kahig. He’s by Twirling Candy and out of the stakes-winning Kitten’s Joy mare Adorable Miss.
Flavien Prat has the mount on Cugino from post 5.
“He’s going to be laying up close,” McGaughey said. “We’ll see if he finishes. I think that he will and I think going a distance of ground is going to be something that he likes.”
McGaughey and Prat teamed to win last year’s Red Smith with Integration and McGaughey and Rosario won this race in 2013 with Imaging.
“I’m happy with both my spots there,” McGaughey said of the riders he has for this year’s Red Smith.
Desvio won the Grade 2 Sycamore at 1 1/2 miles on turf Oct. 10 at Keeneland.
Dancin in Da’nile was fourth last out in the Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine.
Fleetfoot comes off a win in the John Forbes Memorial at two miles on turf at Fair Hill and Common Defense has won two allowances in his last three starts.
Turnback the Alarm
The card opens with the Turnback the Alarm, a 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares. A field of five has signed on and much of the attention will be on Standoutsensation. She has won three allowance races in her last four starts, with one at Oaklawn, the second at Saratoga, and the third at Churchill Downs.
The Beyer Speed Figure of 87 Standoutsensation earned at Churchill, when she won over 1 1/16 miles after breaking from post 10, is the best last-race number in the race.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.