Swale Stakes 2020: Preview, Entries & Odds
Green Light Go, a graded-stakes winner in his second career start, is set to launch his highly anticipated 3-year-old campaign Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $200,000 Swale Stakes (G3).
The seven-furlong Swale is one of five stakes for sophomores, four graded, worth $750,000 in purses on a 12-race program highlighted by the $250,000 Holy Bull (G3). First-race post time is noon.
Trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Green Light Go is the 2-1 program favorite in the Swale and will carry topweight of 124 pounds, including Hall of Fame rider Javier Castellano, from Post 5 in the field of eight.
Green Light Go, a bay son of Grade 1-winning multimillionaire Hard Spun, has not raced since finishing second to Holy Bull favorite Tiz the Law in the one-mile Champagne Oct. 5 at Belmont Park. He has been on a steady work pattern for his return, showing six timed breezes since mid-December at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County.
2020 Swale Stakes Odds & Entries
Race 9 at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, February 01 - Post 4:04 PM
| Entry | Horse | ML Odds | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mischevious Alex | 7-2 | Irad Ortiz, Jr. 122 Lbs |
John Servis |
| 2 | Untitled | 3-1 | Jose Ortiz 118 Lbs |
Mark Casse |
| 3 | Flash Pass | 30-1 | Edgar Prado 118 Lbs |
Efren Loza, Jr. |
| 4 | Green Light Go | 2-1 | Javier Castellano 124 Lbs |
James Jerkens |
| 5 | Shivaree | 6-1 | Emisael Jaramillo 122 Lbs |
Ralph Nicks |
| 6 | Necker Island | 6-1 | Tyler Gaffalione 120 Lbs |
Stanley Hough |
| 7 | Inter Miami | 12-1 | Paco Lopez 118 Lbs |
Alexis Delgado |
| 8 | Point Winner | 30-1 | Santiago Gonzalez 118 Lbs |
Oscar Gonzalez |
U.S. Legal Online Wagering
"He's been pretty willing in his works. Sometimes he can be lazy by himself but he's been working steady every week for quite a while," Jerkens said Thursday morning. "He looks fit looking at him. We gave him a good stretch gallop today, a mini-blowout this morning, so that'll be it."
Jerkens nominated Green Light Go to both the Swale and the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull, but opted to keep him around one turn for the time being. Hard Spun won the seven-furlong King's Bishop (G1) in 2007 after running second in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and third in the Preakness (G1).
"A two-turn race first-time out of the box would be tough. If his race in the Champagne was a little more evenly run I would have considered it, but this made a little more sense," Jerkens said. "I didn't expect him to be on the lead like that. He did falter a little but it was a big track against the speed bias that day and I thought he ran very well to hang on for second.
"It seemed like Mr. [Frank] Stronach wanted to see him go seven-eighths so it's something he can build off of. We'll find out soon enough if he can get the distance later on," he added. "His dam was a sprinter and she was by Pleasantly Perfect, which is kind of strange. He's got real easy natural speed. I've had a lot of Hard Spuns that did well going a distance. On the dam side, even though she was a sprinter, Pleasantly Perfect you certainly don't think of as a speed sire."
Green Light Go debuted with a front-running maiden special weight triumph going 5 ½ furlongs last July 4 at Belmont, winning by 3 1/4 lengths, then followed up by coming from off the pace for an equally dominant 3 ¾-length score in the 6 1/2-furlong Saratoga Special (G2). The Swale will be just his fourth lifetime start.
"It was surprising that he came to hand so quickly. I'm not usually known for starting 2-year-olds that early, but he didn't give me any reason not to run him," Jerkens said. "He just came to hand quickly, and in the right way, too. You get a lot of horses that are precocious but a lot of horses that do that; they get precocious and they show you good speed and then they don't develop anymore after that. But I think he's a quality horse, that's for sure."
