|02.12.202302.12.2023|2:43pm2:44pm
Arrogate colt Slip Mahoney, inside, gamely repels hard-charging rival to win by a head and break his maiden going one mile Jan. 21 at Aqueduct
Among trainer Brad Cox’s 38 Triple Crown nominees are Gold Square’s Slip Mahoney and Qatar Racing’s Everso Mischievous, who each look to have promising futures.
Slip Mahoney, a gray Arrogate colt, broke his maiden on January 21 going a one-turn mile at the Big A with Dylan Davis in the irons while making his third career start. He kept good company in his first two outings, finishing fourth in his November debut at Aqueduct, a race won by the Todd Pletcher-trained Litigate, who captured Saturday’s Sam F. Davis (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs.
Slip Mahoney followed that effort in December at Aqueduct with a runner-up effort to the Pletcher-trained Tapit Trice, who exited that race to romp by eight lengths in an allowance/optional claimer Feb. 4 at Gulfstream Park that garnered a 92 Beyer.
Cox said Slip Mahoney is on target for the one-turn mile $300,000 Gotham (G3) on March 4 at Aqueduct, a Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying race that awards 50-20-15-10-5 points to the top-five finishers.
“He ran against some really good horses in his last two races,” Cox said. “He held his own and he’s a nice colt. He’s marching towards the Gotham. That’s where he’ll start next, and we’re excited about him.
“He showed some heart and determination in his last two and I think he’s one that will get better with doing it in the afternoon. He’s been a little tough to get to the races but once he got there, he’s shown up and run every time.”
Slip Mahoney breezed a half-mile in :49.77 over the Belmont training track on Saturday.
“He came back great. He looked good yesterday,” said Cox’s Belmont-based assistant Dustin Dugas. “[In addition to Cox-trained Withers (G3) winner Hit Show] he’s another one who ate up everything last night and was ready to go this morning. Dylan was on him yesterday and he was happy with it, too.”
Slip Mahoney is out of the Grade 1-winning A.P. Indy mare Got Lucky. His third dam, Get Lucky, produced Grade 1 winner Girolamo and graded stakes winners Daydreaming and Accelerator as well as Supercharger, who is the dam of 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver. All are direct descendants of influential matriarch La Troienne.
Lightning almost struck twice for Cox on Saturday at Aquedcut when Qatar Racing’s Everso Mischievous was a close second on debut in a six-furlong maiden event for sophomores.
Sent to post as the favorite, the Into Mischief colt dueled in the stretch to the inside of longshot Toxic Gray and came up a head shy of victory. He earned a 90 Beyer for the solid runner-up effort.
Dugas indicated that Everso Mischievous, who also is Triple Crown-nominated, will likely get better with more distance.
“He’s a nice horse. I think he’s going to be one that goes a little further. Looking back, he needed that race yesterday,” Dugas said. “The horse who won ran on and got the jump on us. Being a first-time starter, our horse didn’t have the kick to jump right back into the bridle, but he came back big. He thinks he won, so we’ll take it.”
Bred in Kentucky by Clearsky Farms, Everso Dangerous is out of the graded stakes-winning Medaglia d’Oro mare Ever So Clever.
