Precieuse Returns From Layoff to Win Honey Fox

Away from her top-class stablemate for her second U.S. start, Peter Brant’s Precieuse seized the opportunity with her first stateside graded victory in the $150,000 Honey Fox Stakes (G3T) March 2 at Gulfstream Park.

A group 1 winner in France in 2017 before she was transferred to trainer Chad Brown in 2018, the Tamayuz mare faced eventual grade 1 winner Uni in her first start for her new connections and came up a head short in the Fasig-Tipton De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in August.

Her Honey Fox win wasn’t a commanding score, as she edged Valedictorian by a half-length at the wire under jockey Javier Castellano, but the victory was more than gratifying considering the circumstances.

"It meant a lot for us to win today," Brown said. "Mr. Brant has been very patient with this horse. Obviously she hasn't run much in the couple of years with a few injuries. It was important to get the year started off and she deserved to run the whole year and not be bred.

"My staff did a fabulous job to have her ready and Javier really rode a great race. It was a tricky mile race off the layoff, but he really judged the race well and got a nice clean trip and I'm really happy with her."

After a break from the rail, Precieuse settled into sixth early, as La Signare set fractions of :23.51 and :46.51 through a half-mile. She advanced with a three-wide bid in the second turn and in the stretch and finished off the mile in 1:34.14.

Bred in Ireland by Knocktoran Stud out of the Pivotal mare Zut Alors, Precieuse now has three wins and five seconds from nine starts and $485,194 in earnings.

Earlier on the card, in the other one-mile graded turf stakes for older horses, William Schettine’s homebred Krampus earned his first stakes win after a determined stretch battle with odds-on favorite Breaking the Rules in the $150,000 Canadian Turf Stakes (G3T).

The two stalked—Krampus in second under jockey John Velasquez and Breaking the Rules in third under Irad Ortiz Jr.—loose pacesetter Siem Riep, but late in the turn, with the pair alongside each other and the frontrunner tiring, it became apparent the run to the wire would be a two-horse contest.

Breaking the Rules had outside position, but Krampus never let him by and finished a head in front at the wire to finish off the distance in 1:34.98 on firm turf.

The Bill Mott-trained Krampus, now 5-years-old, earned his first victory in a maiden claiming event at Belmont Park in September of 2017 and won a pair of turf allowance tests previously, but his best finish in a stakes entering Saturday’s racing was a fourth in the Tourist Mile at Kentucky Downs in September of 2018. Breaking the Rules entered the Canadian Turf off a dominant 3 1/2-length win in the Tropical Park Derby Dec. 29 at Gulfstream.

"This is the kind of trip I was hoping he was going to get. Sometimes he gets a little far back," Mott said. "He makes a nice run, but it seems like, when he's up close like this and able to stay up close and get in a nice stalking position, he runs real hard. He doesn't wanna let anybody by. He's one of those horses, he's really kind of a barn favorite. He's probably not the best horse in the barn but nobody tries harder than he does. You know what I mean? He's a real neat, real neat kind of horse."

Krampus, a Shakespeare gelding, was bred in Kentucky out of the Rahy mare Midtown Girl. He now has a 5-3-1 record from 13 starts and $305,110 in earnings.

Video: Honey Fox S. (G3T)

Video: Canadian Turf S. (G3T)