BY BROCK SHERIDAN
After winning an allowance on the synthetic course at Gulfstream to finish last year, Florida-bred Scarecrow has yet to find his best stride in three starts on the turf in 2026, two against Florida-breds stakes horses. The Jorege Delgado-trained son of Pleasant Acres Stallions mainstay Neolithic faces eight other 3-years-old and older going a mile-and-a-sixteenth in the $100,000 Cliff Hanger Stakes at Monmouth Park Saturday.
An upset victory by Scarecrow would earn a $4,000 Export Incentive for breeder Robert Jones’ Endsley Oaks Farm in Brooksville, Florida, paid by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association. The FTBOA distributes Export Incentive money for out-of-state winners of maiden special weight, allowance and stakes in 2026 through a program capped at $1 million.
Difficult trips resulted in off-the-board finishes for Scarecrow in his first two races at Gulfstream Park this year. He clipped heels with a rival in the $75,000 Sunshine Turf on January 17 then encountered traffic and was steadied in an upper level, $62,500 optional claiming on February 28, both at a mile-and-a-sixteenth.
Delgado then took him to Tampa Bay Downs for the nine-furlong, $100,000 AAA Feed & Tack Turf Classic, but he was unable to threaten winner Uncle’s Gold, finishing sixth.
Scarecrow won his first career start on synthetic, Scarecrow is stakes-placed on the turf with a third in the $95,000 Armed Forces at Guflstream in his second race in November of that year. He has two wins and two thirds in eight starts overall with earnings of $116,170 for owner Arindel, who purchased him for $19,000 at the 2023 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Winter Mixed Sale where he was consigned by Bobby Jones Equine.
Scarecrow is 20-1 on the morning line and has post three. No rider has been named.
Chad Brown will saddle Cosmic Year (GB), who makes his first start this year and first in North America.
A homebred for Juddmonte Farms, Cosmic Year won the King Charles II Stakes at Newmarket in May but has not run since finishing third in the $166,300 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards Stakes at Newmarket in October.
The 4-year-old son of Kingman (GB) has won three of seven career races with a second and a third while accumulating $186,778 in earnings.
Return to the May 29 issue of Wire to Wire
