BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Alex and JoAnn Lieblong’s Reef Runner was a solid stakes-winning turf sprinter at Gulfstream Park through May of his 4-year-old year.
In his first 17 starts, trainer David Fawkes had the Florida-bred son of The Big Beast earning $310,000 from a productive record of four wins, including a two-length victory in the $95,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint on synthetic in September of 2024, with four seconds and five thirds. He had just missed winning the $107,000 Silks Run (Listed) when only a nose shy of multiple graded-placed stakes turf sprinter Eamonn in May and was less than a length behind multiple stakes-winner Coppola when third in $157,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint (Listed) in January after getting bumped at the start. He had produced 90+ Beyer Speed Figures in half of his 12 sprints on turf and had 85+ numbers in five of the other six.
But Fawkes suspected Reef Runner was capable of more.
“I turned him out for two months, gelded him and brought him back and he won his first race, he won [the $70,000 Warrior’s Pride overnight handicap on Aug. 3] at Gulfstream,” Fawkes said. “And after that race, I decided to go to the Breeders’ Cup right then.”
Fawkes then sent Reef Runner to Southern California for the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 30. Run at five furlongs on the turf, the Green Flash was a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In race, providing an automatic berth into Saturday’s $1 million Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (Grade 1).
Reef Runner went into the starting gate for the $153,500 Green Flash with 18-1 odds but ran to Fawkes’ expectations, defeating 9-5 favorite and two-time Green Flash-winner Mororious (GB) by a nose. However, following an inquiry and review by the Del Mar stewards, Reef Runner was disqualified from first and placed second for interference early in the race. The decision not only cost Reef Runner the win, but the automatic berth.
“He ran the race I expected,” Fawkes said. “[Jockey] Paco [Lopez] rode him absolutely brilliantly and the rest is history. He should have stayed up, but that’s a moot point now.”
The decision became inconsequential relative to a berth in the Breeders’ Cup with Reef Runner’s next race. Fawkes promptly sent Reef Runner to Santa Anita for the Grade 2 Eddie D run at six-and-a-half furlongs on the downhill course. While the race did not offer an automatic berth, a victory would virtually insure Reef Runner a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint starting gate.
However, just days before Reef Runner was to run in the Eddie D, rider Paco Lopez was suspended for six months by the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority. Fawkes named Anotinio Fresu, but then Fresu was declared ineligible by the track stewards and Fawkes had revert to plan C and jockey Armando Ayuso.
“Paco actually talked to [Ayuso] and told him how to ride [Reef Runner] and did a great job,” Fawkes said.
In the Eddie D, Reef Runner was last of eight coming off the downhill course, but Ayuso found room at the top of stretch. He sent Reef Runner after leader Yellow Card, who was two in front with a furlong to run and still had a length lead inside the final sixteenth. But Reef Runner streaked by in final 50 yards to win by a half-length.
“I was a little nervous when he was dead last and after three rider changes and all the craziness, but he’s a neat horse. He’s just a really cool horse.”
Reef Runner has since trained exceptionally well including a bullet four-furlong work in :46.80 at Santa Anita on Saturday.
“The horse has been doing really, really good. I was out here the other day when I watched him work and his last breeze it was really, really nice,” Fawkes said. “He did it in hand. I love it. I thought it was fabulous.”
Fawkes is looking for his second victory in a Breeders’ Cup race, having won the 2010 Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) with Florida-bred Big Drama.
“I’m as happy with the way this horse is coming into the race as I was with Big Drama,” he said. “This horse is really coming into the race excellent.”
Out of Paradise Bay, by Blame, Reef Runner enters the Turf Sprint with a career record of six wins, five seconds and five thirds in 20 starts with earnings of $502,405.
He will be ridden from post two by Tyler Gaffalione and is 6-1 on the morning line.
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