NYRA photo
Christian Abdo
Centurion Thoroughbred Club Glorious boy will move up in the class after a victory on the course and distance of Sunday’s $150,000 Awad, a six-furlong youth outdoor grass sprint, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Trained by Carlos Martin, the Independence Hall gelding made a successful transition to artificial turf when he graduated third in a six-furlong maiden optional claimer here on September 28. Glorious Boy, running for a $75,000 title, closed seven wide from five lengths off the pace to win by two lengths from Dinghy Bar in a final time of 1:08.88.
Glorious Boy was castrated and fitted with blinders before that turf arch, improving to a career-best 63 Beyer Speed Figure in the win.
“This horse is doing really well,” Martin said. “He’s doing really well now. He’s always been a bit of an actor, so we decided to geld him and freshen him up before he won here on the grass. I don’t know exactly who he beat, but he sat relaxed, finished and in the last eighth of a mile he went from sixth to first, going away as if they were standing still.”
Glorious Boy placed fourth in his off-the-turf sprint girls debut in July at Saratoga Race Course with Final score [second] And Heeere’s Johnny [fifth]the subsequent one-two finishers of the Grade 3 With Anticipation at the Spa. Glorious Boy attempted another Spa dirt girl in August, which was also an important race won by the well-known Golden Tornado with the following winners Oscar’s Hope and Igniter finish second and third.
“His first race wasn’t bad, I thought he was a bit short because he always had a lot of meat on him,” said Martin. “He came fourth, then he ran against Danny Gargan’s Golden Tornado, who was perhaps one of the best two-year-olds we’ve seen all summer. He was on the rails, busy and never felt comfortable, so we decided to castrate him afterwards.”
Glorious boy [post 4, Javier Castellano]a $90,000 purchase at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, is a half-brother to stakes winner Veaisha out of the stakes-winning Not For Love mare Love Co. His second mother, Cozzekiki, is a half-sister to the Class 1-placed Raffie’s Majesty.
Team goals [post 3, Flavien Prat] comes in after a groundbreaking second-out graduation sprinting six furlongs over synthetic on Oct. 7 at Presque Isle Downs for owner/trainer Adam Rice. The Well-known Agenda gelding was followed by the Miguel Clement-trained Brooklyn Styles through the half mile in 46.49 seconds and fended off that foe to win by three-quarter lengths in a final time of 1:09.89.
The performance earned a career-best 60. Beyer and Brooklyn Styles returned nine days later to finish second behind contender Awad Uncle Aldo in a six-furlong sprint at Belmont at the Big A.
“I think he’ll like the grass,” Rice said. “He showed quite well on synthetics. He beat a decent horse ahead of Miguel Clement, who was second again straight after. I like him here and he is an open company type horse.”
Squad Goals was a closing second by half-length in his debut at the same Presque Isle course and distance on September 19. He last flew three furlongs around Belmont Park’s dirt training track in 37.24 seconds on October 29.
“I got him to New York early because Presque Isle was closing and I didn’t want to keep waiting, so we gave him some wind,” Rice said. “He should fit in pretty well and hopefully that work is all we needed. I tried to do most of my work at Presque Isle before I came.”
Squad Goals is out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare My Aim Is True and his second dam is Grade 1-placed Joint Return.
Trainer Wesley Ward has registered for the double commitment Gypsy art [post 6, John Velazquez] and the filly placed in class 3 Should have done [post 7, Joel Rosario]which will be introduced at the local Stewart Manor on Friday.
Mrs. Fitriani Hay’s Gypsy Art, a Munnings chestnut, was a 3 3/4 debut second to Royal Testamentt in the 5 1/2 furlong Rosie’s on September 6 at Colonial Downs, ahead of a third of 4 1/2 lengths to Cy Fair last in the five-furlong Listed Algonquin on October 5 at Woodbine Racetrack. Both fillies competed in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint for trainer George Weaver, with Cy Fair winning by three-quarters of a length.
Gypsy Art is a daughter of the American Pharoah mare The Girl Herself, a half-sister of the multi-valued millionaire Circular Quay. His second dam is the Grade 1-winning, New York-bred Circle of Life.
Lael Stables’ Kentucky-based Should’ve was a third by one length in the six-furlong Grade 3 Matron here on October 2. The Not This Time dark bay stumbled at the start, setting the pace but was overtaken by the victorious Final Accord, who finished ninth in Friday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, while the aforementioned Royal Testament was second in the Matron.
Should have entered the Matron from a front running debut in a 6 1/2 furlong sprint on August 28 at Kentucky Downs. Third place of that event, Get seriousgraduated here and is entered in Thursday’s Listed Chelsey Flower.
A half-sister to multiple stakes winner Daring Do, Should’ve is out of the winning Blame mare More’n Likely – a half-sister to the Ward-trained 2014 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Hootenanny and the Grade 3-placed Ryder Ryder Ryder.
Golden Square Throckmorton [post 1, Manny Franco] begins a third-out graduation sprint and five furlongs over the Gulfstream Park Tapeta on September 14. The Caracaro Bay will look to build on a winning form of trainer Jose D’Angelo, who captured the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint last week [Bentornato] and Turf Sprint [Shisospicy] for his first Breeders’ Cup victories in consecutive races.
Throckmorton, in his last prominent score of 1 1/4 lengths, stopped the clock in 56.18 seconds and achieved a career best in 76 Beyer. He previously posted a pair of third places in Spa’s Dirt Sprint Maidens, including at the subsequent Grade 1-placed Curtain Call in July and in August for the Belgian, who returned to finish fifth here in the Grade 3 Futurity.
D’Angelo will also send Uncle Aldo of Hit The Bid Racing Stable [post 2, Samuel Marin]who comes in from third place when determining the pace over course and distance on October 16. More Than Ready Bay previously hit the board in a pair of five-furlong sprints in August at Gulfstream, including a third-place finish three-quarters of a length behind the Timeless Victory at Tapeta.
The field is completed by the off-the-turf debut winning filly Teeth [post 5, Eric Cancel]who will be used at Stewart Manor on Friday for trainer George Weaver. The Vekoma dark bay is owned by Weaver with John Cronin, Jr., RAP Racing and Richard A. Watson.
Hong Kong Phoeey is only entered for the main number.
The Awad is scheduled as Race 3 on Sunday’s nine-race card. First message is 12:10 Eastern.
America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct Racetrack fall meet on the FOX Sports networks. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, go to https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.
NYRA Bets is the official betting platform of Aqueduct Racetrack and the best way to bet on every race this fall. The NYRA Bets app is available to horse players nationwide and can be downloaded today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.
#Glorious #Boy #glory #prize