Horse Racing
Claire Novak 9y

Mshawish wins Ft. Lauderdale

Horse Racing

Al Shaqab Racing's Mshawish earned his first graded victory on North American soil Jan. 10, spinning wide off the final turn but still managing a neck decision in the $200,000 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

The 5-year-old son of Medaglia d'Oro completed the 1-1/16-mile event in 1:41.14 on firm turf under jockey Javier Castellano to win his second straight stakes in the U.S. for trainer Todd Pletcher -- he took the Dec. 13 El Prado Stakes at Gulfstream for his first North American win.

Sent off favored at 9-5 in a field of 12, Mshawish was well-held by Castellano when racing fourth, then third behind a pace set by Silver Freak. The frontrunner went a quarter in :23.91 seconds and a half in :48.42 seconds, but was targeted by several after three-quarters in 1:11.88.

Swinging wide off the turn, Mshawish charged down the center of the course and drew ahead of a blanket charge, followed closely by Grand Tito through a mile in 1:35.33. That rival could not edge past, and Mshawish held sway for the win.

"It was not exactly how we had drawn it up," Pletcher said. "There were some strange riding tactics down the backside. [At the top of the stretch] he kind of drifted a little bit. He kind of got settled in down the backside when that horse came outside of him uncovered again.

"He's an extremely talented horse. He needs to be covered up a little bit. He never really got great cover today and because of that he never got turned off. I don't think many horses would have won with that type of trip, so it's a real credit to the horse. He's a very, very talented horse."

Castellano also praised his mount's ability.

"It was pretty tough today," he said. "This is a horse that is a little difficult to ride. You need to cover him up and unfortunately today he was a little more in the clear. A couple of jockeys smooched a little bit to be in a forward position and I just tried to cover up my horse the best I can. The way he did it today I was very impressed, because he fought a lot in the beginning but still fought at the end. He really gives you everything he has. He deserved to win the race today."

Mshawish paid $5.80, $3.60, and $2.80, Grand Tito brought $9.60 and $6, and Fredericksburg paid $13 when finishing 2-1/2 lengths back in third. Za Approval, floated far out on the turn by the eventual winner, ran fourth, with Lochte, Mosler, Tesseron, Silver Freak, Mucho Mas Macho, Mutin, Shiva Ryan, and Howe Great completing the order of finish.

Golden Rifle and Protonico scratched.

Bred in Kentucky by OTIF 2007 out of the Thunder Gulch mare Thunder Bayou, Mshawish took an interesting route to his current connections. He was a $25,000 weanling purchase by Hot Pepper Farm from the 2010 Keeneland November breeding stock sale when consigned by Dapple Bloodstock, and went for $10,000 to Brown Island Stables from the Bedouin Bloodstock consignment at the 2011 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Shipped to the Araquana 2012 Saint-Cloud breeze-up sale, he was purchased from the Brown Island consignment for $219,589 by Mandore International Agency for Al Shaqab.

He started seven times in Europe, where he was twice a winner, including a score in the listed Prix de Torgeville at Deauville. From there he went to Dubai, where in Feburary of 2014 he took the Zabeel Mile before running fourth in the Dubai Duty Free.

Since enrolling in Pletcher's program, Mshawish has progressed with each start. He finished sixth in the Oceanport Stakes at Monmouth Park in his North American debut before winning an allowance at Saratoga Race Course, only to be disqualified and placed third after a troubled trip caused him to bump two of his rivals, impeding them in the stretch.

The perfect trip continued to elude the colt in his next start, when he finished third in the Knickerbocker Stakes at Belmont Park in November, but things finally went the colt's way in Florida with the El Prado and Ft. Lauderdale victories.

The Feb. 7 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap at 1-1/8 miles is the next target for the Pletcher trainee, who with the Ft. Lauderdale win improved his record to 4-2-2 from 15 starts for earnings of $761,271.

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