NYRA Photo
Christian Abdo
Centurion Thoroughbred Club’s Glorious Boy will step up in class after a win over the course and distance of Sunday’s $150,000 Awad, a six-furlong outer turf sprint for juveniles, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Trained by Carlos Martin, the Independence Hall gelding made a successful switch to turf when graduating third-out in a six-furlong maiden optional claimer on September 28 here. Glorious Boy, while running for a $75,000 tag, closed seven-wide from five lengths off the pace to win by two lengths over Dinghy Bar in a final time of 1:08.88.
Glorious Boy was gelded prior to that turf bow and equipped with blinkers, improving to a career-best 63 Beyer Speed Figure in victory.
“This horse is really thriving,” Martin said. “He’s really doing well right now. He has 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 like they were standing still.”
Glorious Boy was fourth on debut in an off-the-turf sprint maiden in July at Saratoga Race Course that featured Final Score [second] and Heeere’s Johnny [fifth], the subsequent one-two finishers of the Grade 3 With Anticipation at the Spa. Glorious Boy tried another Spa dirt maiden in August, which was also a key race won by the well-regarded Golden Tornado with next-out winners Oscar’s Hope and Igniter finishing second and third.
“His first race wasn’t bad, I thought he was a little short because he always carries a lot of flesh,” said Martin. “He was fourth, then he ran against Danny Gargan’s Golden Tornado who may have been one of the best 2-year-olds we saw all summer. He was down on the rail, hustled, never comfortable, so we decided to geld him after that.”
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 dam, Cozzekiki, is a half-sister to Grade 1-placed Raffie’s Majesty.
Squad Goals [post 3, Flavien Prat] enters from a pacesetting second-out graduation sprinting six furlongs over synthetic on October 7 at Presque Isle Downs for owner/trainer Adam Rice. The Known Agenda gelding was tracked by the Miguel Clement-trained Brooklyn Styles through the half-mile in 46.49 seconds and repelled 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 run second to Awad-contender Uncle Aldo in a six-furlong turf sprint at Belmont at the Big A.
“I think he’s going to like the turf,” said Rice. “He’s shown himself pretty well on synthetic. He beat a decent horse for Miguel Clement who ran second again right after. I like him here and he is an open-company type horse.”
Squad Goals was a closing half-length second on debut over the same Presque Isle course and distance on September 19. He most recently breezed three furlongs over the Belmont Park dirt training track in 37.24 seconds on October 29.
“I brought him to New York early because Presque Isle closes and I didn’t want to get stuck waiting around, so we gave him a little breeze,” Rice said. “He should fit in pretty well and hopefully that work is all we needed. I tried to do the majority 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 entered dual stakes-placed maiden Gypsy Art [post 6, John Velazquez] and the Grade 3-placed filly Should’ve [post 7, Joel Rosario], who is cross-entered in Friday’s local Stewart Manor.
Mrs. Fitriani Hay’s Gypsy Art, a Munnings chestnut, was a 3 3/4-length debut second to Royal Testament in the 5 1/2-furlong Rosie’s on September 6 at Colonial Downs ahead of a 4 1/2-length third to Cy Fair last out in the five-furlong Listed Algonquin on October 5 at Woodbine Racetrack. Both those fillies contested the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint for trainer George Weaver, with Cy Fair winning by three-quarter-lengths.
Gypsy Art is out of the American Pharoah mare The Girl Herself, a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-wining millionaire Circular Quay. His second dam is Grade 1-winning New York-bred Circle of Life.
Lael Stables’ Kentucky-homebred Should’ve was a one-length third in the six-furlong Grade 3 Matron on October 2 here. The Not This Time dark bay stumbled at the start, set the pace, but was caught by the victorious Final Accord, who ran ninth in Friday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, with the aforementioned Royal Testament landing second in the Matron.
Should’ve entered the Matron from a frontrunning debut graduation in a 6 1/2-furlong sprint on August 28 at Kentucky Downs. The third-place finisher of that event, Getting Serious, graduated next out here and is entered in Thursday’s Listed Chelsey Flower.
Should’ve, a half-sister to multiple stakes-winner Daring Do, 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 Grade 3-placed Ryder Ryder Ryder.
Gold Square’s Throckmorton [post 1, Manny Franco] enters off a third-out graduation sprinting five furlongs over the Gulfstream Park Tapeta on September 14. The Caracaro bay will look to build on a winning run of form for trainer Jose D’Angelo, who captured last week’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint [Bentornato] and Turf Sprint [Shisospicy] for his first Breeders’ Cup wins in back-to-back races.
Throckmorton, in his last out prominent 1 1/4-length score, stopped the clock in 56.18 seconds and earned a career-best 76 Beyer. He previously posted a pair of thirds in Spa dirt sprint maidens, including to subsequent Grade 1-placed Curtain Call in July and in August to Belgian, who returned to run fifth in the Grade 3 Futurity here.
D’Angelo will also send out Hit The Bid Racing Stable’s Uncle Aldo [post 2, Samuel Marin], who enters from a third-out graduation when setting the pace over course and distance on October 16. The More Than Ready bay previously hit the board in a pair of five-furlong sprints in August at Gulfstream, including a second-out three-quarter-length runner-up finish to Timeless Victory over Tapeta.
Rounding out the field is the off-the-turf debut winning filly Zuby [post 5, Eric Cancel], who is cross-entered in Friday’s Stewart Manor for trainer George Weaver. The Vekoma dark bay is owned by Weaver with John Cronin, Jr., RAP Racing and Richard A. Watson.
Hong Kong Phooey is entered for the main track-only.
The Awad is slated as Race 3 on Sunday’s nine-race card. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern.
America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct Racetrack fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.
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