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Inspector Lynley seeks turf glory in Sunday's Danger's Hour

by Ryan Martin

Stuart Janney III and Phipps Stables' homebred Inspector Lynley will seek a fifth stakes victory in Sunday's $100,000 Danger's Hour at Aqueduct Racetrack for older horses going the distance of one mile over the turf.

Trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Shug McGaughey, the 6-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid has won four stakes races in 23 career starts, including three in graded company. Two starts ago he won the Grade 3 Tampa Bay on February 9 for the second straight year where he ran a 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

He will attempt to make amends following a close sixth in the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial Handicap at Fair Grounds on March 23, where he finished 3 ½ lengths behind Grade 1-winner Bricks and Mortar.

"It was a slow pace that day," McGaughey said of Inspector Lynley's effort in the Muniz. "He didn't break really well and so he was out of position. I was disappointed with the result, but he seemed to come out of the race well, so we figured we would try and give this race a shot."

Inspector Lynley boasts the highest career earnings of the eight-horse field with a total of $635,299 in the bank. As a sophomore, he won the Grade 3 Saranac at Saratoga when defeating graded stakes winner Camelot Kitten by a head. He is out of the three-time graded stakes winning Maria's Mon broodmare Criminologist whose first time starter Inspector Havers makes her career debut in Friday's second race over the main track.

Inspector Lynley will be ridden by jockey Jose Lezcano from post eight.

Making his 4-year-old debut in the Danger's Hour is Treadway Racing Stables' Maraud, who has not raced since a distant ninth in the Grade 3 Saranac on September 1 at Saratoga. The chestnut Blame colt conditioned by Todd Pletcher is a two-time graded stakes winner when taking last year's Grade 3 Palm Beach at Gulfstream Park as well as the Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill Downs - a race won by his half-brother Arklow in the year prior.

Bred in Kentucky by John and Frank Penn, Maraud was a $375,000 purchase from the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale in May 2017. He is out of the Empire Maker broodmare Unbridled Empire.

Maraud will be ridden by winter meet leading rider Manny Franco.

Wachtel Stable, George Kerr and Gary Barber's Multiplier is already a stakes winner on dirt when taking the Grade 3 Illinois Derby two years ago but seeks his first turf stakes win when breaking from post four in the Danger's Hour.

Conditioned by Peter Miller, the son of The Factor will be in search of his first victory since defeating an allowance field over the turf on May 13 at Santa Anita. He has not raced since finishing a distant tenth in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland on October 6, where he was beaten 13 lengths behind Next Shares.

Multiplier will be guided by jockey Dylan Davis.

Making his 44th career start in the Danger's Hour is Ivery Sisters Racing's Black Tide who will attempt his first win since taking the Ashley T. Cole Stakes at 28-1 odds four starts back. The David Cannizzo trained son of Hold Me Back's only other stakes win took place in the Mohawk in October 2017 over the turf at Belmont Park. Two starts back he was third against open stakes company when finishing third behind Exulting in the off-the-turf Artie Schiller Stakes at the Big A.

He will break from post seven and will be piloted by Kendrick Carmouche.

Rounding out the field for the Danger's Hour is Awesome Saturday (post one, Joe Bravo), and Coltandmississippi (post five, Hector Diaz, Jr.) Listed as main-track only are Tour de Force (post three, Manny Franco) and Killybegs Captain (post six, Junior Alvarado.)

The Danger's Hour is named in honor of the Rokeby Stables-owned six-time graded stakes winner, whose victories included a triumph in the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap in 1985. Trained by Hall of Famer MacKenzie Miller, he retired following a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Turf Classic in 1986 with $820,741 in lifetime earnings and a record of 25-9-2-4.

The Danger's Hour is slated as Race 5 on Sunday's nine-race card. First post is 1:30 p.m.