Citrus Kid wins his comeback race and denies El Padrino his at Gulfstream Park
El Padrino’s comeback race was spoiled by another horse making his comeback in the Gulfstream Park’s Allowance Optional Claimer over a mile on 19 December, 2012.
That horse was John P. Terranova II trained 5-year-old horse, Citrus Kid, who was making his first start since September of 2011, and in the mile long clash, he was good enough to hold off the 3-year-old grade 2 winner, El Padrino, in the comeback race for both.
The race was run over Gulfstream Park’s dirt course and the Let's Go Stable’s El Padrino was making his first start since finishing thirteenth to winner I’ll Have Another in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on 5 May, 2012.
On the other hand, Citrus Kid, made his last start on 17 September, 2011, when he finished second to Stormy Lord in the PTHA President's Cup over a boggy Parx Racing turf course going over a distance of 1 1/8 miles. Golden Goose Enterprises’ Citrus Kid suffered from a soft tissue injury, and he sustained the injury during his second place finish that kept him off the track ever since.
"He's a nice, nice horse," Terranova said by phone from New York. "He got over a big hurdle today. I'm glad he won, but I was just looking to get him back to the races. We'll sit down and see how he comes out of the race before we make any decisions."
Todd Pletcher trained colt by Pulpit, El Padrino was entering the race as the 1 to 5 favourite, and after breaking from post number 4 under jockey Javier Castellano, the jockey kept the colt off the pace and settled in fifth at the half.
Jockey Joe Rocco Jr. was aboard Citrus Kid, and the duo looked determined from the word go, and vied for the lead as the 6 to 1 choice in a field of six. The son of Lemon Drop Kid ran on the inside, and in the stretch El Padrino made his move to catch the leader on the outside, and reduced the advantage to half-length.
However, Citrus Kid dug deep and found something extra to increase the margin in the dying stages of the race, and win by 1 ¼ lengths with the winning time of 1 minute and 36.33 seconds.
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