Malagacy a New Star at Gulfstream

Todd Pletcher might just have been the happiest person at Gulfstream Park yesterday, and not just because he unveiled a 3-year-old colt who appears to have immense potential in 'TDN Rising Star' Malagacy (Shackleford). Pletcher dodged a major bullet as he originally entered the horse in a $75,000 maiden claiming race, and if Malagacy didn't spike a fever, Pletcher might just have lost a horse who could be worth seven figures for a fraction of his real value.

Even the best trainers can get fooled sometimes. Malagacy was originally entered in a maiden claimer on Dec. 16 at Gulfstream.

“He wasn't lighting up the track prior to being entered for that race,” Pletcher said. “He spiked a temperature the day following entries, so we had to scratch. His last two works were much better, so we decided to go in a maiden special weight.”

The bettors were fooled, as well, sending the colt off at odds of 5-1, unusually high for a Pletcher-trained first-time starter. He broke sharply under Javier Castellano, maintained a narrow lead entering the far turn and then took off. He won by 15 lengths in the time of 1:03.60. The race was run in the slop.

“Obviously, he ran as well today as a horse can run,” said Steve Young, who bought the horse on behalf of Sumaya US Stables for $190,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale in 2016. “Off today's race, yes, he is obviously worth at least $1 million. I think we all thought he would run well. But I don't think anybody is going to tell you they thought he was going to win by 15 lengths. He trained real well during the month of December and we thought he was going to fire. But it was one of those Miami maiden races where you might like your horse, but you don't know who you are running against.”

One of the reasons Pletcher may have misjudged the horse early on is that he is training his young horses over a quirky surface at Palm Beach Downs. Observers there say the track is severely biased toward the inside and that when horses work in tandem, it's hard to gauge how much the bias affected the works.

According to the Daily Racing Form's clocker report, Malagacy worked on even terms in his last work with another Pletcher-firster, Diamond Jim (Gemologist), and raced on the outside of his stablemate. Diamond Jim also competed in Wednesday's race at Gulfstream and finished sixth, beaten 28 lengths. Ironically, Diamond Jim's odds were lower, at 7-2.

“At Palm Beach Downs right now it's really hard to know how good a horse is,” Young said. “There's a lot of uncertainty regarding horses coming out of there.”

Whenever Pletcher pops an impressive maiden this time of year at Gulfstream thoughts turn to the GI Kentucky Derby. Young preferred to take a cautious approach.

“He has to do it again to get to that point where you're thinking about something like the Derby,” he said. “He is a big, strong horse, but he needs to do it again.”

Shackleford stands at Darby Dan Farm for a fee of $15,000, and Young said he saw something in the horse's pedigree (he is out of a Dehere mare) when he saw him at the sale.

“I think Shackleford is like a lot of sires in the modern era,” he said. “There is a rush to judgment whereas in the old days a horse would probably get two, three crops before everybody had an opinion about him. Now, if a horse doesn't have eight winners by the end of Saratoga people are knocking him. Shackleford was a big, strong horse and this one looks a lot like his father. He's a sire that is very capable of throwing a good horse.”