Preferred Power strolls through Marcos Footwear(G3)
Queensland– Good thing no one told Preferred Power to bring his running shoes. If the veteran 5YO son of Pulpit had *really* brought his Nikes™, things would’ve been a heckuva lot worse for the Grade 3 $225,000 Marcos Footwear Handicap field.
Count their lucky stars that Kingab’s Preferred Power only brought his B-game. One of the leading 10 furlong turf specialists last year, Preferred Power had most if not all the credentials on this short 5-horse field. The big boy won both the Judgemont International(G1) and Eclipse Stakes(G1) in 2005 and acquitted himself well against the likes of Sunnybank Memorial. In his first start since a poor outing on DelPenn Championship Day, ‘Power aimed to exact revenge on the wire and the long-running Marcos(G1) seemed the perfect spot for his 5YO bow.
Only four other horses showed up for this earlybird contest. As expected, notturna1’s Gingobell jumped out to a fair lead. A graded-winning sophomore miler last season, Gingobell’s main challenge was to stay the 10-furlong course. Punterdoug’s gazillion-to-1 longshot Mamool(FR) kept the newly-minted 4YO honest, but the pair proceeded to sleepwalk through three-quarters.
Meanwhile, jockey C. ‘Cuthbert’ Wyatt had his hands full too, keeping Preferred Power from snoozing on the job. Lucky for Wyatt that ‘Power’s a pretty versatile rallier — Wyatt managed to keep the blood bay with four white stockings within striking distance, never falling five or so lengths behind the frontrunners.
As the small group headed into the final turn, Wyatt shadowed eddieboo’s lightly raced Aslan’s Mane(IRE). ‘Power and the promising upstart moved in tandem by the top of the stretch. It looked like a sweet duel to the wire once Gingobell tired. The crowd picked up on the excitement, but, unfortunately, Preferred Power had plenty in reserve, surprisingly putting away Aslan’s Mane(IRE) without much of a fight.
Wyatt hand-rode Preferred Power to the wire. The winning margin was 3 1/2 lengths, but it could’ve been a heckuva lot more — Wyatt had a snug hold on his charge in the final sixteenth. The clock stopped at 2:02 4/5 (97 SP#), well off the Marcos(G3) stakes record of 2:01 2/5.
The victory pushed Preferred Power’s bankroll up over the $2,000,000 mark. He’s now won 15 of 31 career calls to the post for trainer Kingab (dshock) and ranks 3rd in the Older Male Classic Turf Division.