HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Cash Is King LLC and L C Racing LLC’s Mischevious Alex won Saturday’s $150,000 Swale (G3) with no trouble at all, scoring a 7-length victory under Irad Ortiz Jr. at Gulfstream Park.
The 7-furlong stakes for 3-year-olds was one of five stakes for sophomores, four graded, on Saturday’s 12-race card headlined by the $250,000 Holy Bull (G3).
Making his first start in graded-stakes company after capturing the Parx Juvenile Stakes in his final start as a 2-year-old, Mischevious Alex ($11.80) broke alertly from the starting gate to contest the early pace inside Shivaree and Flash Pass during a 22.41-second first 1/4 of a mile before asserting himself heading into the far turn. The son of Into Mischief, who covered the first 1/2-mile in 45.02 seconds, continued to show the way on the turn into the homestretch before drawing away to a comfortable victory.
The John Servis-trained Mischevious Alex ran 7 furlongs in 1:22.83 to win his third race in six career starts. Shivaree held second under Emisael Jaramillo, a neck ahead of Green Light Go, who turned in a disappointing effort under Javier Castellano as the 8/5 second choice. Untitled, the 7/5 favorite ridden by Jose Ortiz, broke a step slowly and encountered bumping shortly after the start and was never a factor.
$150,000 Swale (G3) Quotes
Trainer John Servis (Mischevious Alex): “If you throw out this horse’s turf race, he should be undefeated. In his second race at Laurel, he got in a little tight and almost dropped himself and dropped back and came running and just got beat. In the Sapling, Trevor [McCarthy] came back and said, ‘John, this horse should have galloped. I’m just sitting. When I pulled the trigger I didn’t expect him to move like he did.’ He looped around everybody, opened up three and just pulled himself up. So we knew the talent was there. He’s always been a push-button horse but very green. When we did decided to put the blinkers on him [before his last race], that’s when he started to mind his business.”
“I really think, me personally, a one-turn mile is going to really hit him on the head. Is he a mile and 1/4 horse? I don’t think so.”
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. (Mischevious Alex): “I got a perfect trip. He broke so sharp and just sat there and relaxed a little bit. He was on the pace and he waited for me to call on him and he was great. He broke so sharp I just went with the flow. I didn’t want to rush him and I didn’t want to take him back, so I just left him where he was happy. He felt so good. He did everything right. He’s got more left in the tank, I think.”
