Starting Over wins the Mac Diarmida (Coglianese)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.— Nice Guys Stables’ Starting Over surged late to capture Saturday’s $200,000 Mac Diarmida (G2) presented by Corniche in a blanket finish at Gulfstream Park, providing trainer Michael Maker with his fifth victory in the 1 3/8-mile turf stakes for older horses during the past six years.
The 28th running of the Mac Diarmida was the first of eight graded stakes on a spectacular 14-race program headlined by the $400,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2).
Maker previously saddled Zulu Alpha for back-to-back Mac Diarmida scores in 2019 and 2020 before going on to score with Temple in 2022 and Value Engineering in 2023.
Starting Over ($24) settled well off the early pace while saving ground around the first turn and the front-stretch while saving ground under Edgard Zayas. Main Event, making his first start since finishing off the board in the Jan. 27 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) after setting the pace, showed the way into the backstretch after setting solid fractions of 23.70 (seconds), 48.75 and 1:14 for the first six furlongs, stalked by Tawny Port, Headline News and Calycanthus. Zayas eased Starting Over off the rail while advancing on the leaders on the far turn before making a five-wide sweep off the turn into the homestretch.
Tawny Port moved past a tiring Main Event in the stretch with Anglophile and Kingmax in hot pursuit before Starting Over suddenly appeared to their outside on his way to victory by a neck. Starting Over, who had finished second in the Jan. 27 McKnight (G3) at Gulfstream in his most recent start, ran 1 3/8 miles over a firm turf in 2:12.29. Tawny Port held second a neck ahead of Anglophile in third. Kingmax as another nose back in fourth.
$200,000 Mac Diarmida presented by Corniche Quote
Winning trainer Michael Maker (Starting Over): “I thought we were a bit far back for the pace, but obviously I was wrong. He’s a very cool horse. He’s easy to get along with and loves his job. He just relishes these longer distances and hopefully he keeps improving.”
Winning Jockey Edgard Zayas: “The horse helped me a lot. He relaxed really good. The plan was to see where everyone was comfortable. I thought, looking at the program, that he would have been a little closer, but when I dropped the reins, he was really relaxed. I think in these long-distance races, it’s all about who relaxes their horses better.
