The lightly-raced Triple Crown nominated colt Kulboyz will make two jumps at
once when he runs in the $75,000
Smooth
Air Stakes over a mile at Calder on Sunday, running in his first career
stakes and going two turns for the first time.
“We’re excited to be running,” owner Stephen Screnci said of the 3-1
favorite. “It looks like it’s a competitive field and we’re looking forward to
Sunday.”
There are six Triple Crown nominees in the race, including Kulboyz. The Angel
Rodriguez trainee drew post position 9 for the Smooth Air field of 11, with Todd
Pletcher’s duo of King Cyrus (post 10) and Monopolize (11) wider out.
Kulboyz is the only entrant with a single lifetime start on his resume.
Jockey Hugo Sanchez, who was aboard Kulboyz in his career debut, retains the
mount.
“I’m hoping he gets a good clean break and they find a comfortable spot and
wait a little bit,” Screnci said. “Kulboyz has shown on the training track that
he has the ability to rate. The last two works we settled him a little bit and
he took to it well. I think he’ll rate if he has to. I just want clean
fractions. I don’t want him going :22, :45. I’m just hoping he’ll relax.”
Kulboyz broke his maiden at Gulfstream Park on January 23, scoring a
six-furlong maiden special weight race win by 2 1/2 lengths after breaking third
from the rail and taking the lead for good thereafter. He set fractional times
of :22 4/5, :45 4/5, :57 1/5, with a final time of 1:09 3/5. Although his
breeding, Bring the Heat–Shadow Belle, by Halo’s Image, suggests a career of
speed and shorter distances for Kulboyz, Screnci is hopeful that his colt will
go the distance and eventually run in the Triple Crown.
While Kulboyz was nominated for the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth Stakes run
at Gulfstream on February 22, Screnci considered Saturday’s seven-furlong Swale
Stakes, also at Gulfstream, for his colt’s second career start. With the local
option of the Smooth Air available for the Calder-based Kulboyz, Screnci decided
the home stake would be the best option.
“I thought it would be a good second step for him versus the Swale,” Screnci
said. “He’s a little behind the other horses.
“This is only his second race. The trade-off was the distance. The Smooth Air
is a mile, but it’s a two-turn mile and the Swale is a seven-furlong sprint.
After I weighed everything out, I felt like keeping him at Calder on race day
would give us a little bit of an advantage maybe he’d be a little bit more
comfortable.”
As for the race plans for Kulboyz after the Smooth Air, Screnci is looking at
a multitude of future prep races for the Triple Crown.
“I thought that I would see what he does in this race,” the owner said, “and
if he handles it comfortably there are a bunch of other prep races between the
last week in March and the first week in April that we can maybe take a look at;
if he’s successful there, we’ll go from there.”
King Cyrus, an
11-length debut scorer at Saratoga, will make his first start since finishing
third in a Keeneland allowance last October. The colt will race uncoupled with
stablemate Monopolize, who exits a well-beaten sixth behind Top Billing in a Gulfstream optional claimer January 25.
Gone as Wind, seventh behind General a Rod and Wildcat Red in the Gulfstream
Park Derby, rebounded with a 3 1/2-length allowance tally at this track and
trip. Tashir, a 9 1/2-length allowance romper at Calder two starts back, comes
off a sixth to Wildcat Red in the Hutcheson. Sea of Faces wheels back one week
after finishing eighth to Constitution, Tonalist and Mexikoma in a loaded
Gulfstream allowance. Stakes-placed Giancarlo, a four-length scorer under
allowance conditions at Tampa Bay Downs most recently, also merits respect.
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