BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Keith Johnston and Chris Aulds’ Florida-bred Big and Classy, who lived up to his name by winning eight races last year, is scheduled to carry highweight of 123 pounds while making his 2024 debut in Saturday’s $75,000 Tackleberry Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
The 5-year-old gelded son of The Big Beast, who has been installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite, will concede between three to eight pounds to his nine rivals in the one-mile overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and older.
“It’s been a long haul for us. He’s been amazing to us. He suffered a little injury and I had to take my time. But he’s coming back on all cylinders,” trainer Bobby Dibona said. “He’s been working lights-out.”
Claimed for $20,000 last March off back-to-back victories, Big and Classy went on to win six races and finish second three times in his next nine starts for Dibona, finishing the year with eight total victories.
Big and Classy compiled his enviable record while racing at the highest level of competition at Gulfstream during the Royal Palm and Sunshine Meets, winning the Jackson Bend overnight handicap and finishing second behind multiple graded-stakes winning Florida-bred Dean Delivers in the Grade 3 Smile Sprint.
While Big and Classy came very close to being unbeatable in sprints ranging from five-and-a-half furlongs to seven furlongs, he finished second in both of his one-turn mile races, including a runner-up finish behind subsequent graded-stakes winning Florida-bred Octane in the FTBOA Gil Campbell Memorial Oct. 23 in his 2023 finale.
“Whether the mile is his best distance, I don’t know. The numbers say, ‘Maybe, yes.’ He was second twice. So, it’s all right. We’ll get back in the game,” Dibona said.
Leonel Reyes has the return mount on Big and Classy and they will break from post two.
Dibona has also enjoyed considerable success with Fly the W, an 8-year-old gelded son of Ghostzapper who has won 14 races in his last 23 starts while finishing on the board in every start.
“Between [Big and Classy] and Fly the W, they’ve won 20 for me,” Dibona said. “Big and Classy is a big horse. He throws his weight around. He’s not easy. If you’re not a horseman, he’ll walk on you. Awesome horse, just awesome. Fly the W is easier to handle. He’ll do what you ask him. He knows his job. Big and Classy acts like King Kong.”
The first four finishers in the June 27 Wildcat Red overnight handicap are slated to return in the Tackleberry. Gentry Farms’ Positive Review, who will carry 119 pounds Saturday, registered a length-and-a-half victory over Chester Bishop and partners’ Florida-bred Shaq Diesel. David Fawkes-trained Shaq Diesel will carry 120 pounds, one more than Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Positive Review.
EKB Stables LLC and P and L Thoroughbreds LLC’s Black Belt, who pressed the pace before weakening to third in the Wildcat Red, is also assigned 120 pounds. The Peter Walder trainee finished five lengths ahead of Joseph-trained fourth-place finisher Lord Miles.
Vegso Racing Stables Inc.’s Lord Miles, who captured the 2023 Wood Memorial (G2), closed mildly to finish fourth.
Daniel Walters, Dennis Smith and trainer Rohan Crichton’s Legacy Island; Gary Barber Manfred Conrad and Penny Conrad’s Golden Glider; Gods Glory Stables and trainer Matthew Ciamel’s Love Me Not; Nataki Brown’s The Skipper Too; and J. J. Brevan Stable LLC’s Chrome Ghost; round out the field.
The Tackleberry is named after the multiple graded stakes-winning son of Montbrook who won the Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2), Gulfstream Sprint Championship (G2) and Fred Hooper (G3). Bred in Florida, Tackleberry was owned by Marissa Olivares and conditioned by the popular Luis Olivares, who also trained Grade 1 winners Flying Pidgeon and Powder Break.
Tackleberry retired with earnings of $915,252 from eight wins in 17 starts.
