Green Light Go to Start 2020 Campaign in Swale Stakes

Last year's Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) winner, Green Light Go, is scheduled to return to racing Feb. 1 when the 3-year-old son of Hard Spun  makes his season debut in the $150,000 Swale Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

The Stronach Stables homebred flashed plenty of talent in his three juvenile starts, scoring clear victories in his maiden debut at Belmont Park and the Saratoga Special at Saratoga Race Course. He then stretched out to a one-turn mile in the Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont, where he finished second as the 6-5 favorite, four lengths behind winner Tiz the Law, who is entered for his 3-year-old debut in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Saturday.

Trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Green Light Go has prepared for the seven-furlong test with six timed works at Palm Meadows Training Center since mid-December, each about a week apart. His four moves from Jan. 3-25 were at five furlongs, including a Jan. 25 breeze in 1:00.35.

"He's been pretty willing in his works. Sometimes he can be lazy by himself, but he's been working steady every week for quite a while," Jerkens said Jan. 30. "He looks fit looking at him. We gave him a good stretch gallop today, a mini-blowout this morning, so that'll be it."

Jerkens nominated Green Light Go to both the Swale and the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull but opted to keep him around one turn for the time being. Hard Spun won the seven-furlong King's Bishop Stakes (G1) in 2007 after placing in two Triple Crown races.

Video: Saratoga Special S. (G2)

"A two-turn race first time out of the box would be tough. If his race in the Champagne was a little more evenly run, I would have considered it, but this made a little more sense," Jerkens said. "It seemed like Mr. (Frank) Stronach wanted to see him go seven-eighths, so it's something he can build off of. We'll find out soon enough if he can get the distance later on. 

"His dam was a sprinter, and she was by Pleasantly Perfect, which is kind of strange. He's got real easy natural speed. I've had a lot of Hard Spuns that did well going a distance. On the dam side, even though she was a sprinter—Pleasantly Perfect, you certainly don't think of as a speed sire."

Awaiting Green Light Go in the expected field of eight 3-year-olds will be Gary Barber and Michael Sebastian's Untitled, who turned heads in his lone start at 2 when trained by Ralph Nicks. Untitled drew off to an 11-length romp in a maiden race against other Florida-breds Dec. 14 at Gulfstream. He is now trained by Mark Casse.  

At the other end of the experience spectrum, Mischevious Alex will look for a second consecutive stakes win after closing a five-race juvenile campaign with a front-end score in the Nov. 5 Parx Juvenile Stakes at Parx Racing. The son of Into Mischief  is owned by Cash is King and LC Racing and trained by John Servis.

Entries: Swale S. (G3)

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, February 01, 2020, Race 9

• Grade III
• 7f
• Dirt
• $150,000
• 3 yo
• 4:04 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Mischevious Alex (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	John C. Servis	7/2
2	2Untitled (FL)	Jose L. Ortiz	118	Mark E. Casse	3/1
3	3Flash Pass (FL)	Edgar S. Prado	118	Efren Loza, Jr.	30/1
4	4Green Light Go (KY)	Javier Castellano	124	James A. Jerkens	2/1
5	5Shivaree (FL)	Emisael Jaramillo	122	Ralph E. Nicks	6/1
6	6Necker Island (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	120	Stanley M. Hough	6/1
7	7Inter Miami (FL)	Paco Lopez	118	Alexis Delgado	12/1
8	8Point Winner (KY)	Santiago Gonzalez	118	Oscar M. Gonzalez	30/1