Robert and Lawana Low’s Colonel Liam will target $200,000 Fort Lauderdale Stakes (G2T) on December 31 at Gulfstream Park as sole preparer for his third consecutive winning attempt in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1T).
Colonel Liam has been entered in an optional claims subsidy race scheduled for 7 1/2 stages on Gulfstream’s new turf on December 15 but is the first of three to also Eligible to participate in the overflow field of 15 people. The race was then switched to the all-weather Tapeta course due to rain.
Coach Todd Pletcher says the 1/8-mile Fort Lauderdale is always a backup for his 5-year-old son. Map of Liam unranked since finishing ninth at the Dubai Turf sponsored by DP World (G1) on March 26.
“When it’s successful, we probably won’t run on any synthetic horses anyway. We drew the AE and then they dropped it, so we’ll move on to Plan B.”
Colonel Liam defended his 2021 Pegasus Turf victory on January 29 at Gulfstream with a famous one-stage victory—his first race in 239 days after finishing eighth in Manhattan ( G1) last June at Belmont Park. Fort Lauderdale takes place 281 days after the Dubai Turf.
“It’s fine,” Pletcher said. “Ideally we would like to have a little more time between races to get back to Pegasus, but it is. He runs well after being sacked, so hopefully, he will run well. stay there and move forward for the grand slam.”
This press release has been edited by BloodHorse Staff for content and style.
