Hennig's Americanus Gets Acid Test in Unbridled Stakes

The $75,000 Unbridled Stakes for 3-year-olds April 25 is one of two overnight stakes added to the Gulfstream Park schedule this spring amid the coronavirus pandemic that has kept most tracks shuttered, as horses that normally ship north remain at the South Florida track.

"Certainly, (this year) we have more horsemen from New York and Kentucky that are missing their chances (to run in stakes), so we wanted to throw up the 3-year-old race, and, actually, I thought it would fill better than it did," said Mike Lakow, Gulfstream's vice president of racing operations. "It's still a good race. It's a good stepping-stone for these horses to choose where they're going next. There was a void in the condition book for these (type of horses), and expectedly so—we didn't know that all these horses would still be in Florida. We are looking at the 3-year-old filly race (possibly May 16-17) along with an older boys dirt race, a mile and an eighth on the dirt."

The Sunshine Forever Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf for older horses was also scheduled for May 9.

"We are not going to look any further than the next condition book," Lakow said. "We are just taking it one step at a time."

With the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) moved to Sept. 5, there is plenty of time for the Derby outlook to change as later-developing horses take advantage of the revised schedule.

In any other year, a Triple Crown race likely wouldn't have been on trainer Mark Hennig's radar for Americanus, a son of War Front  yet to distinguish himself in stakes competition. But the Courtlandt Farms colt could take a step toward fulfilling his promise Saturday in the 1 1/16-mile Unbridled, which drew a field of seven. 

"He's been doing great. We've been able to afford him the time and good spacing going into this," Hennig said. "I'm happy Gulfstream added this race and is giving us the opportunity to stretch out."

Americanus is coming off an impressive victory in a Feb. 22 allowance race at Gulfstream. He rated off the pace in the seven-furlong event before making a strong inside run to prevail by a length, bringing his record to 2-for-4.

The Hennig trainee won on debut over next-out winner Toledo at Belmont Park in a six-furlong maiden special weight race in September.

"He's kind of a laid-back horse. He wasn't the kind going over there that you're thinking he's a speedball and he's going to run them off their feet first time out," Hennig said. "But he had a lot of class. He has such a good mind … and took everything in stride. I wasn't totally surprised."

Five weeks later, Americanus faded to eighth in the one-mile Nashua Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack.

"We felt he displaced in that race. We did a myectomy on him. It seems to have corrected things," Hennig said. "We put a tongue-tie on and haven't had any issues since."

Edgard Zayas has the call on Americanus, who finished second in his 3-year-old debut Jan. 15 prior to his Feb. 22 score.

St. Elias Stable's Dr Post is scheduled to make a jump from maiden company to stakes competition, returning off a victory in a seven-furlong maiden special weight in his second start March 29 at Gulfstream.

"He's had two very strong breezes since then," trainer Todd Pletcher said. "With limited options, we had considered taking him to Oaklawn for an allowance race, but staying at home was an option when this race came up. In light of how well he's been training, we decided to go ahead and step up in class a little bit and see where we are."

The son of Quality Road  was a $400,000 purchase from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Irad Ortiz Jr. has the call on Dr Post in his first race since March 29.

Jim Bakke and Gary Isbister's Attachment Rate is coming off a third-place finish in the March 7 Gotham Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct.

The son of Hard Spun  who finished two lengths behind victorious Mischevious Alex in the one-mile Gotham was being pointed to the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) before Keeneland's spring meet was canceled.

Trained by Dale Romans, Attachment Rate finished off the board in his debut at Churchill Downs last summer before returning to finish a fast-closing second going seven furlongs Jan. 25. He graduated by 6 1/4 lengths Feb. 15 going a mile at Gulfstream.

Luis Saez has the return call.

Entries: Unbridled S.

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, April 25, 2020, Race 9

• STK
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $75,000
• 3 yo
• 4:53 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Necker Island (KY)	Dylan Davis	120	Stanley M. Hough	12/1
2	2Americanus (KY)	Edgard J. Zayas	118	Mark A. Hennig	6/1
3	3Dr Post (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Todd A. Pletcher	8/5
4	4Relentless Dancer (LA)	Chris Landeros	118	Michael J. Maker	6/1
5	5South Bend (KY)	Rajiv Maragh	122	Stanley M. Hough	4/1
6	6Soros (KY)	Emisael Jaramillo	122	Gustavo Delgado	15/1
7	7Attachment Rate (VA)	Luis Saez	118	Dale L. Romans	3/1