Last time out, making his first start on dirt since his debut, Don't Tell My Wife Stables and Monomoy Stables LLC's My Boy Jack broke well from the rail, but didn't do much right immediately after that, wasting energy pulling against his rider before ending up an even, well-beaten third in the GIII Sham S. Monday at Oaklawn Park, My Boy Jack broke well from the rail again, but this time, did everything right after that, and the result was a powerful victory in the sloppy-track, $500,000 GIII Southwest S. to put himself squarely on the road to the GI Kentucky Derby.
Made the fourth choice at 8-1 behind heavily-favored 'TDN Rising Star' and local Smarty Jones S. hero Mourinho (Super Saver), the dark bay hugged the fence around the clubhouse turn while running third-last as the chalk was pressured up top through splits of :23.46 and :47.70. Galloping along smoothly down the backside with Kent Desormeaux sitting chilly, My Boy Jack continued to stay inside while advancing on the far bend and moved into contention past the quarter pole. Bursting through a rail opening soon after kicking for home as Mourinho began to sputter, he quickly took charge and poured it on in the final furlong to score by 4 1/2 lengths over Combatant (Scat Daddy), who took the long way around on the final turn.
'TDN Rising Star' Sporting Chance, making his first start since capturing the GI Hopeful S., ran admirably to be third after chasing the pace and getting steadied in the stretch, while Mourinho held on to complete the superfecta.
Runner-up at fourth asking in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf S. Sept. 3, My Boy Jack broke his maiden in the Zuma Beach S. at Santa Anita Oct. 9 before running seventh in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and finishing behind unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' McKinzie (Street Sense) in the Sham.
“It looked like a repeat of the Razorback,” Desormeaux said of his trip, referencing Hawaakom's rail-skimming victory one race earlier. “I have to say it was a great training job by Keith [Desormeaux]. Last time, the horse left the gate quiet as a church mouse but got very aggressive early and I was just skiing around there. When I turned him loose, he just galloped home. He didn't power home like he did today. It was a complete turnaround effort from his last start. Today he was quite calm and let me ride him and that was the biggest difference. He didn't waste any energy, so he flew home.”
Remarking on the condition of the racetrack after daylong rains, Desormeaux added, “This was an eight-goggle day. The track's consistency is like peanut butter. Their feet go into the ground and it's trying to suck their shoes off. It's sticky. The great thing is now we're going to run in the Derby–it might be the Arkansas Derby, but we're Derby-bound.”
Pedigree Notes:
My Boy Jack is the third graded stakes winner for ascendant Airdrie Stud stallion Creative Cause from his two crops to race thus far, following in the footsteps of GIII Smarty Jones S. victor and 'TDN Rising Star' Pavel and GIII Miss Grillo S. heroine Significant Form. His unraced Airdrie-bred dam is a half-sister to SW Precious Kiss (Kissin Kris) out of GSW/GISP Gold N Delicious, who was Brereton Jones's entree into the family when snatched up for $310,000 at the 2004 Keeneland November sale. Sold for $8,000 to Chad Schumer at KEENOV in 2016, Gold N Shaft is responsible for a juvenile Cairo Prince filly named Play for Gold, an unnamed yearling filly by the same sire and a filly by The Visualiser foaled Jan. 25. Third dam Beth's Song was GISP and is the second dam of a pair of group winners in Argentina.
Monday, Oaklawn Park
SOUTHWEST S.-GIII, $500,000, OP, 2-19, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:46.00, my.
1–MY BOY JACK, 119, c, 3, by Creative Cause
1st Dam: Gold N Shaft, by Mineshaft
2nd Dam: Gold n Delicious, by Gold Alert
3rd Dam: Beth's Song, by Quadratic
1ST GRADED STAKES
WIN. ($14,000 RNA Wlg '15 KEENOV;
$20,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-Don't Tell My Wife Stables &
Monomoy Stables, LLC; B-Brereton C. Jones (KY); T-J. Keith
Desormeaux; J-Kent J. Desormeaux. $300,000. Lifetime
Record: 8-2-3-1, $425,145.[bullet ad=”legacy-bloodstock-my-boy-jack”][bullet ad=”bsw-monomoy”][bullet ad=”schumer-dam-purchased”][bullet ad=”kbif-g2g3″]2–Combatant, 115, c, 3, Scat Daddy–Border Dispute, by
Boundary. ($320,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-Winchell
Thoroughbreds LLC & Willis Horton Racing LLC; B-Paget
Bloodstock (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $100,000.[bullet ad=”blandford-stud-sold-by-for-paget”]3–Sporting Chance, 117, c, 3, Tiznow–Wynning Ride, by Candy
Ride (Arg). 'TDN Rising Star' ($275,000 Wlg '15 KEENOV;
$575,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-Robert C. Baker & William L.
Mack; B-Hunter Valley Farm (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas.
$50,000.[bullet ad=”hunter-valley-raised-sold-by-hunter-valley-farm”][bullet ad=”bradshaw-randy-shell”][bullet ad=”woodsedgefarm-grad”] Click for the Equineline.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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