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Maximus Mischief falls short in Holy Bull, loses to a pair of long shots in his 3-year-old debut

Maximus Mischief, a horse that was based at Parx, finishes third in the Holy Bull Stakes, his first race as a 3-year-old.

Maximus Mischief racing at Parx.
Maximus Mischief racing at Parx.Read moreEQUI-PHOTO / EQUI-PHOTO / Bill Denver

When expectations are so high, Kentucky Derby fever is in the air, and winning seems a near certainty, horse-racing reality can be quite harsh. Maximus Mischief, the best 2-year-old at Parx Racing since Smarty Jones 15 years ago, made his 3-year-old debut Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the Holy Bull Stakes. It did not go well.

The big colt was more than a bit unsettled in the paddock before the race. He was sweating more than he should have been in the post parade.

Still, under new jockey Jose Ortiz, who replaced Parx champion rider Frankie Pennington for the race, Maximus Mischief broke beautifully, as he did in each of his three 2018 races, all easy wins, culminating with a dominating victory in the Dec. 1 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct.

On the run down the backstretch of the mile-and-a-sixteenth race, Ortiz had 4-5 favorite Maximus Mischief in second, a few lengths behind front-runner Epic Dreamer, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose’s brother. The fractions were manageable, not too fast, not too slow.

It all looked perfectly normal. Then, it didn’t. Maximus Mischief should have been cruising up to the front-runner as they neared the far turn. But Jose had to ask the colt to catch up. This clearly was going to be a struggle.

It took until 100 yards before the wire for Maximus Mischief finally to hit the front, but, just as he did, one long shot came up to his inside and another to his outside. Both passed him in the final yards, and Maximus Mischief finished third, beaten by just over 1 length.

The winner, Harvey Wallbanger, was 29-1. The second horse, Everfast, was 128-1. The odds were so long because neither horse was very distinguished.

The final time of 1 minute, 43.69 seconds was slow for the racing surface. Maximus Mischief probably ran about 8 lengths off his best form.

``He battled [Epic Dreamer] longer than I ever thought he would,’’ trainer Butch Reid said from South Florida. ``It’s been over two months between races. Did he come up a little short? That’s a possibility.’’

What made it even more perplexing was that the Remsen has turned out to be a strong race. Tax, who finished third behind Maximus Mischief that day, won the Withers Stakes at Aqueduct about 45 minutes before the Holy Bull. Bourbon War, who finished fourth in the Remsen, was an impressive winner of a Jan. 18 allowance race at Gulfstream.

``When I asked him, he wasn’t going the way I wanted him to,’’ Jose Ortiz said. ``I just had to start riding. I had a hard time catching the horse on the lead.’’

The Holy Bull result was yet another lesson that horses are not machines. They do not always produce their best form.

The original plan was for Maximus Mischief to wait for the March 30 Florida Derby. Now, the connections, which include owners Chuck Zacney and Glenn Bennett, may decide the big colt needs more racing and run him in the March 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes. Both races are at Gulfstream. where Maximus Mischief is stabled.

His three workouts at Gulfstream did not go exactly as planned. In the second workout, the horse went too fast early, then slowed down late. His workout scheduled for Jan. 26 had to be postponed two days because of weather.

``I’m not sure what it was, but something kind of put him off his game a little bit today,’’ Reid said. ``Fortunately, we still have a good, strong, sound horse. I know he is a very talented horse. He hasn’t dropped any in my eyes.’’