The old guy comes back running

Evening Attire did everything but win his first race at age 10 Saturday at Aqueduct, an effort that was typical of the old guy – drop back early, all the running happens in the last half-mile.

The distance, a mile-and-sixteenth, is a bit too sharp and the race was out of reach when Evening Attire reached the sixteenth pole, at which point Angliana had taken an insurmountable lead in the Aqueduct Handicap. But, as usual, Evening Attire was rolling late and rolling fast enough to nip Judiths Wild Rush, who is also gray, for second money.

Trainer Pat Kelly: “The track’s been pretty speed favoring. I think [Ramon Dominguez] did fine for the first time on him. He cut the corner, saved some ground and then ran out of ground. If he doesn’t win, he makes somebody else win. He makes them run hard to win. It’s neat to be around him. This will set him up good for the Stymie.

Dominguez: “Unfortunately I was not able to get him outside earlier. The whole race I had the No. 6 horse outside me. I had to follow the winner, which I think cost him. He finished up great. What a neat horse to ride.”

According to Art Magnuson, assistant to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, the winner, Angliana, has come back from the doorstep of retirement. “We didn’t think he’d run again after the spring. He had a cyst in his sinus and a couple of vets said he’d never run again,” Magnuson said. “This was really, really great.”


In Invasor’s hoofprints?

McLaughlin won Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park last year with 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor and will have the clear favorite for this year’s edition in four-year-old Daaher, who turned in a bullet workout Saturday morning at Palm Meadows.

Daaher was timed five furlongs in 59.80 seconds, fastest of 23 at the distance, in preparation for his first start since an upset of sprint champion Midnight Lure in the November 24 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct. The victory was his third straight after scoring by 13 ¾ lengths in a Saratoga allowance in August and the Jerome Handicap at Belmont Park in October.

McLaughlin had another star from last year getting ready for the 2008 campaign out for a workout Saturday morning at Palm Meadows as four-year-old filly Lear’s Princess went a sharp three-eighths in 35.60 seconds, her second timed workout since she finished unplaced in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Among her four wins last season was the upset of Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches in the Gazelle at Belmont.

Tagg unwraps another Derby prospect

Tale of Ekati is Barclay Tagg’s leading prospect for this year’s Triple Crown but Jockey Ridge threw his bridle in the ring with an impressive 4¾-length maiden victory at Gulfstream Park.

“He is a quality 3-year-old,” Tagg said on Saturday. “I don’t know yet if he’s Triple Crown horse quality, but he certainly is worth thinking about.”

Jockey Ridge and Eibar Coa cruised through fast early fraction, and then separated themselves from a promising group in the 6½-furlong race, his first start this year after a best-of-the-rest debut at Aqueduct on Nov. 10 behind highly-regarded Lieutenant Ron.

Big Truck, Tagg’s other three-year-old prospect has some excuses out of his fifth-place finish in the Hutcheson Stakes behind Smooth Air early in the month . “I really didn’t want to turn him back to seven furlongs, but I didn’t really have a lot of options,” Tagg said. Big Truck finished fourth in the nine-furlong Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct in his two-year-old finale. Court Vision, the Remsen winner, is among the leading early-season three-year-olds.