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Major Dude the Ft Lauderdale, Credit Ryan Thompson<\/p>\n
Wolfie\u2019s Dynaghost Favored in Prep for $1M Pegasus Turf (G1)<\/p>\n
Gulfstream Press<\/p>\n
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL\u00a0\u2013 Defending champion Major Dude<\/a>, fellow millionaires Wolfie\u2019s Dynaghost<\/a> and Chasing the Crown<\/a>, and graded winners Cugino<\/a> and Steal Sunshine top a stacked group of 10 older horses set to contest Saturday\u2019s $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G3) at Gulfstream Park.<\/p>\n The 69th running of the Fort Lauderdale for 3-year-olds and up, scheduled for 1 1\/8 miles on the grass, is the last of five stakes, two graded, worth $750,000 in purses on an 11-race Pegasus Preview Day program that begins at 12:20 p.m.<\/p>\n Named for the famed coastal city 14 miles north of Gulfstream, the Fort Lauderdale serves as the local prep for the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) Jan. 24. Also on Saturday\u2019s program are the $150,000 Harlan\u2019s Holiday (G3), steppingstone to the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1), and the $150,000 Suwannee River, a tuneup for the $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G2).<\/p>\n Spendthrift Farm\u2019s Major Dude is looking to become the Fort Lauderdale\u2019s first repeat winner after rallying for a dramatic neck victory over millionaire Fort Washington last year, his fifth career stakes win and third and most recent against graded company. He has two wins and two seconds in six lifetime races at Gulfstream, including a victory in the 2023 Kitten\u2019s Joy (G3).<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll give him a chance to defend his title,\u201d Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. \u201c[He\u2019s a] cool horse, just so consistent. Always shows up and tries hard. I like the way he worked [Saturday] morning so hopefully that means he\u2019s sitting on a good one.\u201d<\/p>\n Major Dude most recently was a popular winner of one-mile Artie Schiller Oct. 11 on the Aqueduct turf, boosting his career bankroll over $1.4 million. He is two-for-three at the 1 1\/8-mile distance and is attempting to give Pletcher his fifth Fort Lauderdale win following Silver Medallion (2012), Mshawish (2015) and Largent (2020) prior to last year.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though he won last time at Aqueduct, we didn\u2019t feel like he handled the turf course there so we felt that, knowing that he runs well fresh and he ran well in this race last year, that we would give him a little extra time in between races and point for this,\u201d Pletcher said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s sneaking up on 6 [years old]. Right now the plans are to run in here and see how he does, and he could potentially earn his way into the Pegasus Turf,\u201d he added. \u201cNot sure what the long-term plans are but he\u2019s kind of part of the family at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n Hall of Famer John Velazquez, up for the last three starts, returns to ride from Post 8. They are rated at 5-1 on the morning line.<\/p>\n Woodslane Farm\u2019s 7-year-old homebred gelding Wolfie\u2019s Dynaghost is chasing his 14th career win, third in a row and second straight since joining the barn of trainer Brian Lynch following a front-running 2 \u00be-length triumph in the 1 1\/8-mile River City (G3) Nov. 8 at Churchill Downs.<\/p>\n \u201cHe came over in very good order and fortunately enough he picked up where he left off with [previous trainer] Jonathan [Thomas]. He touted himself going into the River City and ran like we hoped he would,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cObviously he\u2019s a classy old horse. I was proud to be able to continue his winning streak and keep him out there because he looks like he could be a lovely older handicap grass horse.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolfie\u2019s Dynaghost has a history of success at Gulfstream, winning the Carousel Club overnight handicap in 2022 and 2023 over the all-weather Tapeta on the Pegasus World Cup undercard. He also ran second by a half-length in the 2022 Appleton (G3) going a mile on the Gulfstream turf for original trainer Tom Albertrani.<\/p>\n Lynch previously won the Fort Lauderdale with 5-year-old Heart to Heart in 2016. Two years later, Heart to Heart won back-to-back Grade 1 stakes starting with the Gulfstream Park Turf, rebranded the Pegasus Turf in 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had Heart to Heart and he won his Grade 1\u2019s when he was [7]. We had Grand Arch who ran third in the [2015] Breeders\u2019 Cup [Mile G1] when he was [6],\u201d Lynch said. \u201cSometimes these older horses, those are their best years. John Henry was [1984] Horse of the Year when he was [9]. Let\u2019s hope we\u2019re far from being done.\u201d<\/p>\n Irad Ortiz Jr. is named on Wolfie\u2019s Dynaghost, the 2-1 program favorite, from Post 2. The only six-time Championship Meet leading rider ranks first in the country with 340 wins and a record $39.6 million in purse earnings.<\/p>\n Paradise Farms Corp., David Staudacher and Angelo Carlesimo\u2019s 6-year-old Chasing the Crown (Post 3, 8-1) is a millionaire stakes winner that has placed three times in graded company including a third behind Spirit of St Louis and Integration in the 2025 Pegasus Turf, beaten 1 \u00bd lengths. Trained by Mike Maker, winner of the 2018 Fort Lauderdale\u00a0with Shining Copper, Chasing the Crown won a $500,000 handicap at Kentucky Downs before running seventh to Wolfie\u2019s Dynaghost in the River City.<\/p>\n West Point Thoroughbreds and Jimmy Kahig\u2019s 4-year-old Cugino (Post 6, 5-2) won last year\u2019s Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream and has run second in two other tries over its turf course including the 2024 Colonel Liam when he was beaten a neck. His Hall of Fame trainer, Shug McGaughey, has never won the Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n \u201cThe horse could not be doing any better,\u201d West Point executive vice president Tom Bellhouse said. \u201cHis coat looks great. Shug said all along that he\u2019s got to be perfect for us to run and to really keep the momentum going if we\u2019re going to try to get to the big dance in January.\u201d<\/p>\n A half-brother to Grade 3 winner Battle of Normandy, Cugino takes a two-race win streak into the Fort Lauderdale. He came from off the pace to capture the one-mile Red Bank by a length Sept. 1 at Monmouth Park and the 1 3\/8-mile Red Smith (G2) by a nose Nov. 2 at Aqueduct.<\/p>\n \u201cWe love this horse. Earlier in his career he was a touch unlucky. He had a couple of tough trips where it seemed like even when he won there was an inquiry. He was always bouncing off against somebody,\u201d Bellhouse said. \u201cThis is one of those vintage Shug McGaughey training jobs where all of a sudden you have a horse that once they hit 4 and 5 [years old] and they\u2019re still in the program, they\u2019re excelling. Hopefully the best is yet to come with this guy.\u201d<\/p>\n Flavien Prat, up in the Red Smith, will be in town to ride. Prat leads Ortiz Jr. this year in stakes wins (71-63) and graded-stakes wins (45-35) nationally.<\/p>\n Michael Iavarone, Jules Iavarone et al\u2019s 6-year-old Steal Sunshine<\/a> (Post 1, 20-1) is seeking his first win on turf, with one second in four previous attempts. The eight-time winner has won four stakes highlighted by the 2024 Gulfstream Park Mile\u00a0(G2) and comes in off a 1 \u00bd-length victory in the 1 1\/16-mile Finallymadeit overnight handicap.<\/p>\n Rounding out the field are three-time Grade 3-placed Siege of Boston <\/a>(Post 4, 20-1), fifth by 1 \u00bd lengths in last year\u2019s Fort Lauderdale; stakes winner Beach Gold<\/a> (Post 5, 8-1); Naptown<\/a> (Post 7, 30-1); Quatrocento <\/a>(Post 9, 20-1) and Grade 3-placed Divin Propos<\/a> (Post 10, 8-1).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Major Dude the Ft Lauderdale, Credit Ryan Thompson Wolfie\u2019s Dynaghost Favored in Prep for $1M Pegasus Turf (G1)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-88911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}