Gulfstream 'Cap Distance Fits Private Zone

Good Friends' Stable's Private Zone, who closed out last season with his third grade I stakes win in New York, is scheduled to make his 6-year-old season debut Saturday, March 7, in the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap (gr. II).

The Macho Uno   gelding will be making his first start since closing 2014 with a five-length victory in the Cigar Mile Handicap (gr. I) at Aqueduct Racetrack. Like the Cigar, the Gulfstream Park Handicap is a one-turn, one-mile race.

In addition to making his 2015 debut, the 6-year-old gelding is set to make his first start for Gulfstream Park West-based trainer Jorge Navarro.

"It's a chance of a lifetime," Navarro said. "I appreciate the chance the owners have given me."

Prior to his Cigar victory, Private Zone finished a late-closing third in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park, and captured the Vosburgh Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park for the second straight year. In 25 starts, the Ontario-bred has amassed earnings in excess of $1.5 million from seven wins, seven seconds, and two thirds.

Private Zone has strung together four consecutive bullet workouts at Gulfstream Park West in preparation for his 2015 debut.

"He's a beautiful horse. The way he trains, he does everything so easily," Navarro said. "The times he's putting up are serious, and we're not asking him for anything."

Also entered for Saturday is last year's TwinSpires.com Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I) winner Wicked Strong. Centennial Farms' 4-year-old son of Hard Spun   has been assigned to carry two pounds fewer than Private Zone and is set to make his first start since clipping heels, stumbling, and losing rider Rajiv Maragh in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I) at Belmont on Sept. 27.

James Jerkens-trained Wicked Strong will be reunited with Maragh, who sustained a broken arm that put him on the shelf for four months in the Jockey Club Gold Cup spill.

"I'm so excited to get back on him, because since the comeback to Palm Meadows, he looks like a much more mature horse. He gained a lot of weight; he's filled out, looks stronger. He's developing and it seems like he's moving forward off the great form he had last year," said Maragh, who captured his first race back off his injury-forced hiatus aboard Sky Blazer at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 16. "I think the best is yet to come."

Lane's End Racing and Dell Ridge Farm's Honor Code is set to make his first start since capturing a six-furlong optional claiming allowance at Aqueduct on Nov. 22 with a breathtaking stretch run. The 4-year-old son of A.P. Indy has been training with trainer Shug McGaughey's division at Payson Park in preparation for the Gulfstream Park Handicap.

"It's gone excellent. I couldn't have asked for it to go better. He got a little freshening-up time after he ran in November. We've trained him pretty hard since then and he's taken it well," McGaughey said. "He's ready to go."

Honor Code, who had stamped himself as a 2014 Triple Crown prospect during a juvenile season that concluded with a victory in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen Stakes (gr. II), was taken out of training last March after sustaining an injury in his right hind leg. He came off the sidelines with an impressive performance at six furlongs.

"I think as we go along, I think he'll be better around two turns," said McGaughey, whose colt will carry 116 pounds including Javier Castellano. "He'll probably be in the race a little more around two turns."