Pumpkin Rumble Looks to Do Battle in W. L. McKnight

While some Thoroughbreds retire mere months after making their debuts on the racetrack, others are ageless. Start after start they continue to give their all, impressing connections and fans with their heart and will to run. 

Such is the case with Pumpkin Rumble, who at 9 is the oldest and most experienced of 12 entrants in the $200,000 W. L. McKnight Stakes (G3T) Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park. 

Trained by Kevin Attard and owned by Al and Bill Ulwelling, Pumpkin Rumble has made 47 starts in his almost decade-long career. He enters off a 5 1/4-length victory in the Valedictory Stakes (G3) at Woodbine, his second consecutive score in that event. 

Video: Valedictory S. (G3)

The Pennsylvania-bred son of English Channel  tested his mettle at the top level one start earlier in the Ontario track's Pattison Canadian International Stakes (G1T) but finished fifth. Attard said the outcome was disappointing but did little to blemish the reputation of his protégé. 

"It was good to see in the Valedictory that at the end of his 8-year-old campaign, he hadn't lost a step," Attard said. "He wasn't disgraced in the International. It was a small field, but he was only beaten 3 3/4 lengths. We had a little bit of a hard time finding races for him last year. He had a little bit of a delayed start to his season, and we had to play catch-up early in the year. It was a matter of finding races.

"We ended up going to Parx for a restricted race (the Alphabet Soup Handicap). He won that race in track-record time. We were targeting another race for him, but the plans fell through and we ended up in the International. That was a little more than he could kind of chew, but he wasn't disgraced. He's traveled well and is eating really well here. He's breezed a few times here and should be pretty tight."

Tyler Gaffalione will have the call on Pumpkin Rumble in the 1 1/2-mile McKnight. The pair will leave from post 8. 

With a quarter of the field originating from his Florida barns, trainer Mike Maker is ready to make a serious play for his fourth consecutive McKnight victory. Leading the charge for the veteran trainer will be a pair of runners from Paradise Farms and Mad Dog Racing Stable in Temple and Carom.

Temple, a 4-year-old Temple City  gelding, finished third in the Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream to close his sophomore season. He got his first stakes win one start earlier in the Gio Ponti Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack after finishing off the board in the Qatar Twilight Derby (G2T) three weeks before that.

"He had some trouble leaving the gate and down the backside," Maker said of Temple's effort in the Tropical Park. "I felt he was the best in that race. He's been on top of his game."

Temple will partner with Irad Ortiz Jr. out of post 10.

Carom, a Data Link gelding who ran third in the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes last year, will step up to graded company for the first time. Carom will leave post 4 with Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano.

Also making his graded stakes debut for Maker will be 6-year-old gelding Apreciado. The son of Skipshot  enters off a second in the Claiming Crown Emerald Stakes when he finished less than two lengths behind winner Muggsamatic.

"He ran well the times we've stretched him out," Maker said. "He's definitely a contender."

Campaigned by Justice Racing Stable, Apreciado will depart post 3 with Paco Lopez.

The Maker-trained Cross Border is a New York-bred son of English Channel . Owned by Three Diamonds Farm, the 6-year-old ridgling finished sixth in the Dec. 14 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes (G2T) at Gulfstream in his previous start. His only graded stakes effort came in October when he finished fifth in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park.

Cross Border is cross-entered in the Jan. 26 John B. Connally Turf Cup Stakes (G3T) at Sam Houston Race Park. Should he remain in the McKnight field, he will leave post 7 under Jose Ortiz.

Trainer Bill Mott will send out multiple graded stakes-placed Red Knight, who most recently ran second in the Red Smith Stakes (G3T) in November at Aqueduct. The McKnight will mark a return to Gulfstream for the Trinity Farm homebred who took the 2018 H. Allen Jerkens.

The 3-1 morning-line favorite, Red Knight will break from the rail under Joel Rosario.