Tax

When Long Range Toddy (Take Charge Indy) won the eighth race at Gulfstream Park Sunday, the 7-year-old put to rest a losing streak that dated back to before the controversial 2019 GI Kentucky Derby, a race in which he earned historical footnote status by being the horse who was fouled in the only disqualification of a Derby winner for an in-race incident. Long Range Toddy's 2 1/4-length score in a seven-furlong allowance/optional claimer July 16 was his first victory since Mar. 16, 2019, when he took a division of that...

Multiple graded stakes winner Tax (Arch) has been retired from racing. The 7-year-old gelding, who was claimed by trainer and co-owner Danny Gargan for $50,000 out of his debut race in 2018, won the 2019 GII Jim Dandy S. and GIII Withers S., as well as the 2020 GIII Harlan's Holiday S. He earned a trip to the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby with a runner-up effort in the GII Wood Memorial. Fourteenth in the Derby, he returned to finish fourth in the GI Belmont S. On the board in 11...

The highly regarded Performer (Speightstown), a hard-fought neck winner over Eye of a Jedi (Eye of the Leopard) in the GIII Fred W. Hooper S. Jan. 23, will look for his second straight tally over track and trip in Saturday's GII WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile S. The 2019 GIII Discovery S. winner was a disappointing third as the 4-5 favorite in the slop in the GI Cigar Mile H. two starts back Dec. 5. "He gutted it out pretty good," trainer Shug McGaughey said of Performer's Hooper win. "He was...

Knicks Go (Paynter) rides a red-hot streak, including a career high in the Breeders' Cup, into Saturday's $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream, in which he was installed as the morning-line favorite. An upset winner of the GI Breeders' Futurity S. back in 2018, the gray was transferred from trainer Ben Colebrook to Brad Cox at the end of a disappointing 2019 season. Romping by 7 1/2 lengths in his debut for Cox in an Oaklawn optional claimer Feb. 22, the Korea Racing Authority colorbearer was sidelined...

Tax (Arch) likely punched his ticket to the $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park Jan. 23 with a sharp, front-running performance off the bench in Saturday's GIII Harlan's Holiday S. The 2019 GII Jim Dandy S. and GIII Withers S. winner hit the gate running from his rail draw and Luis Saez was able to dictate very manageable fractions of :23.87 and :46.96. He began to give them the slip as they hit the top of the stretch and was home free from there, running up the...

The defections of two of favorites Omaha Beach (War Front) and Spun to Run (Hard Spun) saw Saturday's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. lose some of its star appeal, however, a solid group of graded stakes winners will try and collect the lion's share of the $3-million purse. Trainer John Sadler, who finished third in this race last season with 2018 Champion Older Horse Accelerate in 2019, offers the talented but at times unlucky Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro), who breaks from post 6. Knocking on the door to bigger...