HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Todd Pletcher has dominated the Grade 3 Canadian Turf at Gulfstream Park, having won the race a record seven times, including the past two renewals with Emmanuel. On Saturday, the Hall of Fame trainer will attempt to add to that mark when sending out Major Dude against nine rivals in one of the more wide-open handicapping challenges on the Fountain of Youth program.
Major Dude is coming off one of the stronger efforts of his career, a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational. There, he was beaten just three lengths despite being hung wide throughout. In his previous start, Major Dude out-gamed Fort Washington by a neck to capture the Fort Lauderdale for his third Grade 2 victory.
“He only got beat three lengths but never really got the trip we were hoping for,” Pletcher said of the Pegasus. “Unfortunately, he got hung three wide all the way around and never could get any cover, and I think that diminished his late kick a bit.”
Fort Washington and Major Dude will meet for a third consecutive time. Fort Washington finished three-quarters of a length in front of Major Dude when fifth in the Pegasus, rallying belatedly down the center of the course after fanning very wide off the final turn.
Silent Heart has history on his side, as his sire, Heart to Heart, won the Canadian in 2016 and 2017. Like his father, Silent Heart has shown an affinity for the local strip, winning 3 of 5 starts over the course, including the Showing Up Stakes in the fall.
“This is the best group of horses he’s run against, but his figures and everything fit,” Lynch said.
Mike Maker, who won this race in 2018 with Hogy, will counter the likely favorites with the pair of Paros and 2023 Pegasus Turf winner Atone. Paros had a four-race winning streak snapped last month when running a disappointing sixth in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Stakes, while Atone got back on the winning track for the first time since the 2023 Pegasus Turf with a victory while racing for a $62,500 tag on Jan. 25.
“Paros is on top of his game but really didn’t get the best of rides in Tampa,” Maker said. “Atone will have to step up his game but has come back great off a little freshening.”
Maker pair in Mac Diarmida
For as much success as Pletcher has had in the Canadian, no trainer has dominated a race locally like Maker has the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida Stakes, which serves as the finale on Saturday’s 14-race program. It’s a race Maker has won five of the last six years, including with Starting Over in 2024.
Maker will send out a pair of contenders, Sugoi and Cathkin Peak, as part of a full field of long-winded turf specialists. Entrants include Dashman and Cash Equity, the one-two finishers, respectively, in the Grade 3 McKnight; the idled Missed the Cut; and Pletcher’s Grand Sonata, who’s coming off an eighth-place finish in the Pegasus Turf.
Sugoi is coming off a game nose victory over Verstappen in the John B. Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston, a performance for which he earned a lifetime-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He’s as gritty as they come. He posted another hard-fought win last time,” Maker said. “I think this is his best distance, and although he’s never run here before, he really likes a firm course like this.”
Cathkin Peak finished sixth, but only two lengths behind Dashman and Cash Equity, after setting a contested pace in the McKnight.
“He had hard luck getting pushed on the lead, but I thought he ran a great race for all the pressure he took,” Maker noted. “If he can get loose here, I think he could be very dangerous.”
Dashman overcame the extreme outside post and narrowly outlasted Cash Equity after forging to the lead at mid-stretch to become a graded stakes winner for the first time in the McKnight. Unfortunately, he is poorly drawn in post 12 on Saturday.
Cash Equity finished strongly down the center of the track but fell inches short of earning his first graded stakes victory while remaining winless since June 2023 at Santa Anita.
“He’s earned a lot of checks. He’s been a little unfortunate in some situations,” leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “Last time, he was traveling so well and [jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.] couldn’t get him out at the right time and he lost a little momentum.”
Grand Sonata stretches back out around three turns after proving no factor turning back to nine furlongs in the Pegasus Turf. Fourth in the Fort Lauderdale, Grand Sonata registered the most significant victory of his career late last summer when upsetting the Grade 2, $2 million Turf Cup field going 1 1/2 miles at Kentucky Downs.
Missed the Cut is a three-time Grade 3 winner but has not started since finishing last in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes early last summer at Ascot for John Sadler. He makes his first start for trainer Cherie DeVaux.
Mi Bago goes for three straight
A field of 10 up-and-coming 3-year-olds will go a mile on the turf in the $215,000 Colonel Liam Stakes, with the versatile Mi Bago looking to build on his victories earlier in the session in the Pulpit and Dania Beach stakes.
Trained by Mark Casse, Mi Bago cruised on an easy lead and was five lengths the best on the grass in the 7 1/2-furlong Pulpit. He tried the Tapeta course for the first time when the Dania Beach was taken off the turf due to wet conditions, and while not quite as impressive, he held on gamely for a three-quarter-length decision over Hammerhead.
Mi Bago is not likely to see the lead as readily in the Colonel Liam with last-out gate-to-wire winners Wakan and Forged Steel among the opposition. Forged Steel was a well-graded allowance winner when returning to the turf after finishing a tiring sixth against the likes of Sovereignty and Sandman in the Grade 3 Street Sense on the dirt at Churchill Downs in his juvenile finale.
An honest pace scenario figures to benefit the likes of George Briggs, a come-from-behind maiden special weight winner at first asking for trainer Chad Brown during the fall at Aqueduct. Also in the field are Enterdadragon, who rallied from mid-pack to win an allowance race going 1 1/16 miles while launching his 3-year-old campaign at Tampa Bay Downs, and Smooth Breeze, who adds blinkers while making his first start since rallying to be second in the Central Park Stakes on Nov. 16 at Aqueduct.
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