Locked, as soon as seen as a high 2024 Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve prospect, is on the comeback path in an enormous means. The 4-year-old Gun Runner colt looms as a major contender for coach Todd Pletche when the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes introduced by Baccarat is run Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Locked returned from an 11-month layoff as a consequence of a knee harm to dominate an allowance-optional claiming race by 7 ½ lengths at Belmont on the Huge A on Oct. 19. He stepped as much as Grade 2 firm and his first check towards older horses and met that problem. He ran down Mullikin for a 1 ½-length rating within the Dec. 7 Cigar Mile Handicap introduced by Twinspires.com at Aqueduct. John Velazquez was aboard for these two begins.
Owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Companions and Walmac Farm, Locked was bought for $425,000 on the 2022 Keeneland September yearling sale. He made a splash in his third profession begin by profitable the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland after which ending a stable third within the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Introduced by TAA at Santa Anita.
Hopes have been excessive for his 3-year-old marketing campaign earlier than a knee harm compelled Pletcher to scratch him from his deliberate 3-year-old debut within the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Aron Wellman, president and founding father of Eclipse Thoroughbred Companions, discusses the rollercoaster experience Locked has taken them on as a part of a wide-ranging question-and-answer session carried out on behalf of America’s Finest Racing.
PEDULLA: Locked created some buzz as a 2-year-old. Have been you enthusiastic about him?
WELLMAN: He was a type of uncommon horses who, the second you get him right down to Ocala [Florida] and educate him his early classes, he hinted that he was a fairly critical athlete. We have been very, very enthusiastic about Locked from an early stage.
PEDULLA: What occurred that led him to be scratched from his 3-year-old debut?
WELLMAN: He had a really uncommon harm to a entrance knee ligament. That was a testomony to Todd and his staff and their consideration to element. Quite a lot of guys wouldn’t have picked up on it. Because of trendy know-how and a staff of vets that have been on the case, we have been capable of detect what the harm was and we gave him the requisite day without work. Ian Brennan and his staff at Stonestreet Farm did an exquisite job rehabbing him.
PEDULLA: How did you deal with not having the 3-year-old marketing campaign you dreamed of?
WELLMAN: I’d be mendacity to you if I stated it wasn’t a punch to the intestine. Everyone knows how laborious expertise is to come back by to start with, and now we’ve received a supreme expertise on our arms in each respect. Our staff had a conviction that he would actually thrive at a mile and 1 / 4 [the Kentucky Derby distance]. You could find expertise, you could find velocity, however to seek out traditional profile people is so distinctive, and Locked actually possessed all of the substances to be a real traditional horse.
PEDULLA: How do you assist your companions cope with such disappointment?
WELLMAN: As my mother and father raised me on this trade, it’s not a sport made for males who put on quick pants. Our companions at Eclipse are very properly versed in that notion. We at all times function that the horse comes first. As disappointing and irritating because it was to must take Locked off the traditional path, we knew we needed to do proper by him and, if we did, we might put him in place to come back again and hopefully showcase himself and have that trajectory into his 4-year-old yr.
PEDULLA: His comeback race will need to have been very encouraging.
WELLMAN: It was actually thrilling to see him be as sensible as he was at seven furlongs in his comeback race off the layoff as a result of he’s a real two-turn horse. To see him run a tick off the observe report set by Artax at Aqueduct a few years in the past going seven furlongs (1:20.04 on Could 2, 1999) exhibited his sheer brilliance.
PEDULLA: Do you view the Cigar Mile as one other large step ahead?
WELLMAN: To win the one-turn Cigar Mile as a 3-year-old towards a handful of older Grade 1 winners actually spoke to his elite, upper-echelon capability and sophistication.
PEDULLA: Have been you ever uncertain he would make it again?
WELLMAN: I attempt to do my greatest to function with what I confer with as cautious optimism. Even with probably the most pristine and sound horses, everyone knows that something can occur at any time. So, upon getting a horse that has endured an harm, particularly one as uncommon because the one Locked skilled, you sort of maintain your breath on a regular basis that you’re going to be capable to maintain them on the straight and slim.
PEDULLA: Though he has solely made six begins with 4 wins and nearly $1 million in earnings, what do you consider his resume so far?
WELLMAN: With the Cigar Mile paired together with his Breeders’ Futurity, it makes him a critical, critical stallion prospect and we’re hoping there may be extra to come back. However you by no means take it as a right. Till they’re in that beginning gate and so they open that latch, you by no means take something as a right
PEDULLA: What’s your degree of optimism approaching the Pegasus?
WELLMAN: I preserve that cautious optimism. He’s coaching exceptionally properly proper now. Todd may be very pleased with him. John Velazquez labored him at Palm Seaside Downs and was delighted together with his efficiency. By all accounts, Locked is in superior type. The hot button is to hope he continues to thrive between now and Pegasus day. If he does, I feel our companions are going to be in for one heck of a thrill.
PEDULLA: How does the Pegasus go well with him? I might suppose that, ideally, you’ll need one other furlong.
WELLMAN: It’s a mile and an eighth. It’s a brief run to the primary flip at Gulfstream. However he’s confirmed to be so adaptable by way of his ways and elegance that, actually, we’re hoping his pure expertise, high quality, and sophistication prevails. He’s received the psychological and bodily structure to be an elite performer, and he’s confirmed that.
PEDULLA: Do you imagine the 2 comeback races positioned Locked to be at his greatest for the Pegasus?
WELLMAN: Todd and our staff have at all times felt that the older he will get, the extra he matures, and the extra distance he has, the higher off he might be. He has a seven-furlong race, a mile race, and now he’s going to get a mile and an eighth. With these two races beneath his belt, this needs to be prime-time Locked territory.
PEDULLA: Though he’s an older rider at 53, how a lot of an asset is John Velazquez?
WELLMAN: Johnny has been an integral a part of Eclipse’s success from day one. He’s the consummate skilled. It’s as if he’s consuming from the fountain of youth as a result of he’s nearly as good as he’s at all times been and on the high of the rider ranks for many years. He appears to get higher with age. He’s not simply an all-world jockey. He’s an all-world particular person.
PEDULLA: What number of horses are beneath the Eclipse banner, both owned solely or in partnership?
WELLMAN: Most likely 150.
PEDULLA: You might be in your thirteenth season. What number of did you will have if you based Eclipse?
WELLMAN: Zero.
PEDULLA: What does such dramatic progress inform you?
WELLMAN: That the horses have been superb to us as a result of they’re our greatest commercial. Folks thinking about racehorse possession watch the races and so they see the child blue and black Eclipse silks profitable large races on Saturdays throughout the nation.
PEDULLA: What would possibly the schedule seem like for Locked the remainder of the yr?
WELLMAN: The Pegasus is purpose primary. We have now tunnel imaginative and prescient on the Pegasus proper now. We all know what all the choices are for a horse like him transferring ahead. We don’t wish to take something as a right. We wish to see how he performs on Pegasus day. Hopefully, he performs the best way we predict he’ll. That can permit us to have choices on the desk. However he’ll inform us after the Pegasus the proper locations to go.
PEDULLA: Are the $20 million Saudi Cup and the $12 million Dubai World Cup prospects?
WELLMAN: The Center East is on the market with the massive cash. However, in all candor, with a horse like Locked, whereas I’m not downplaying the significance of the purse cash, I feel if he permits us to proceed a marketing campaign previous the Pegasus, we’d be extra prone to be thinking about status over purse cash as a result of we do imagine he has the profile and the substances to be a critical stallion when that point comes.
