Bold Move Pays Off for Hammerhead in Valedictory

Jockey Daisuke Fukumoto made a bold move aboard Hammerhead with 5 furlongs to go in the $113,256 Valedictory Stakes (G3) Dec. 6 at Woodbine and it paid off with a length victory over stablemate Jokestar. Virginia Lazenby's Passing Game, a 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro gelding exiting a second-place finish in the 2-mile John Forbes Memorial Stakes on turf at Far Hills, led the 1 1/2-mile race on Woodbine's synthetic main track through an easy 6 furlongs in 1:19.43. As the field reached the backstretch for the second time, Gold Square's Hammerhead was sitting behind horses in fourth place. Fukumoto guided him out to the clear and asked for run, and the 3-year-old War Front colt surged past horses to take the lead. Hammerhead established a half-length lead through a mile in 1:45.18 and increased his advantage to 2 lengths after 1 1/4 miles in 2:09.08. Al and Bill Ulwelling's Jokestar finished strongly when asked by jockey Rafael Hernandez but his rally from eighth place came up short as the winner ($9.70) completed 1 1/2 miles in 2:34.40. Kevin Attard, who accounted for three of the nine-horse field, trained the top two. There was a dead heat for third between Passing Game and Eff Thirty Five. Bred in Kentucky by Glen Hill Farm, Hammerhead is out of the stakes-winning Medaglia d'Oro mare Figarella's Queen. Gold Square purchased him for $225,000 from his breeder's consignment out of Book 1 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Hammerhead has won two of 13 starts and earned $207,795.