Favorite Tale has winning role in Smile Sprint

Favorite Tale is headed to the Breeders’ Cup after his Smile Sprint victory (Leslie Martin/Adam Coglianese Photography) PJG Stable’s Favorite Tale (Tale of the Cat) set all the pace in Sunday’s $250,000 Smile Sprint S. (G2) at Gulfstream Park and pulled off in the stretch to finish 4 1/4 lengths in front of champion sprinter and 4-5 favorite Work All Week (City Zip). Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) hero tracked in third outside of Wildcat Red (D’wildcat), who was latched onto Favorite Tale’s flank through splits of :21 4/5, :44 and :55 4/5. Those three continued in a like manner into the stretch, with Favorite Tale eventually drawing off to complete six furlongs over the fast dirt in 1:08 4/5. Trained by Guadalupe Preciado and ridden by Edgard Zayas, Favorite Tale paid $17 as the 7-1 fourth choice in the nine-horse field. The Smile Sprint win improved his career line to 14-6-3-1, $551,626, but more importantly gave him an automatic, fees-paid berth to this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint as a “Win & You’re In” challenge race. “We hoped he could run a good race here, because last year the owners wanted to go to the Breeders’ Cup, but he’s not eligible and it costs a lot of money. I told them let’s wait a year because hopefully he could win a race and get in,” Preciado explained. “So this was perfect. “It was great. I sent him all the way until I got the lead, and he’s a horse that once it gets a lead he will keep on going,” Zayas said. “(Preciado) just told me to have a good break and to extend the lead. Today was a special day.”

Work All Week managed to take second away from Wildcat Red by 1 1/4 lengths,
but emerged bloody after the race.

“(Jockey Florent Geroux) said when the horse inside
(Falling Sky [Lion Heart]) broke through the gate (Work All Week) actually smashed his face.
He’s bleeding,” divulged Richard Papiese, who campaigns the six-year-old gelding
with his wife, Karen. “No excuses, but it’s not a good thing.”

“When the horse inside me broke through the gate, he tried to
follow him,” Geroux stated.

Favorite Tale began his career with a three-race win streak at Parx last
year, capped by a 14-length allowance romp. He then tried New York rivals and
sandwiched a win in the Gold Fever S. between a pair of unplaced efforts in the
Bay Shore S. (G3) and Woody Stephens S. (G2).

Since then, the bay has been in the top three in all but two races. He placed
in the Oh Say S., Quick Call S. and Jersey Shore S. (G3) before earning his
first graded victory in the Gallant Bob S. (G3) back at his Parx home base.
After a fifth in the Frank J. De Franics Memorial Dash to close out his
sophomore campaign, Favorite Tale returned with a runner-up effort in the
Decathlon S. at Monmouth Park on May 9 and another fifth, this time in the True
North S. (G2), last out on June 5.

“We wanted to win one to get into the Breeders’ Cup. Now we
need to figure out how to get there,” Preciado said. “We have easier races for him now at Parx
because he’s PA-bred. It’s not big money but we can keep him in good shape. We
don’t need to kill him against the big horses before the big race.

“He’s been training beautiful. For this race, he was doing
unbelievable and you couldn’t ask him to go better than the way he did it,” the
trainer added. “We gave him all winter off. He’s a gelding and hopefully we keep
him running for a few years.”

Bred in Pennsylvania by Paul Conaway, Favorite Tale is out of Grade 3-placed Tricky Elaine
(Grindstone), who is a
half-sister to 1997 Horse of the Year and champion two-year-old colt Favorite
Trick (Phone Trick). This female family also boasts Grade 2 queen Tizfiz (Tiznow) and Grade 3 scorer
Fury Kapcori (Tiznow).

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