BY BROCK SHERIDAN

Shaq Diesel may now be officially categorized as a seven-furlong specialist with his third career stakes victory, all at that distance, in Sunday’s $75,000 Benny The Bull Handicap for 3-year-olds and older at Gulfstream Park. The 5-year-old Florida-bred son of Ocala Stud’s leading Florida sire Khozan has won five of his seven career victories at seven furlongs, including the Benny the Bull as the 124-pound high-weight, giving away between three and eight pounds to his five rivals.

Ridden by Miguel Vasquez from post two, Shaq Diesel broke on top then allowed Florida-bred General Ledger, the longest price in the race with 10-1 odds, to get a short advantage to his inside through splits of :22.83 and :45.20. Vasquez gave Shaq Diesel his cue past the quarter pole and the sturdy bay pulled away in the stretch to win by four-and-a-quarter lengths in 1:22.42 on the sloppy and sealed main track. The Golden Gorilla finished second by a neck ahead of Florida-bred Pure Class in third. Florida-bred El Principito, Nautical Star and General Ledger completed the order of finish. Life is Precious was scratched.

“The horse, he was perfect. He broke good and I tried to put him in a good position,” Vasquez said. “At the three-eighths [pole] I used him a little bit and he won easy.”

Shaq Diesel paid $5.80 to win while making his last start for trainer David Fawkes.

“He’s leaving,” Fawkes said. “He’s been great to me. I love the horse. I hate to see him go, but it is what it is.”

Bloodstock agent Sean S. Perl sold Shaq Diesel for $160,000 to Mahmud Mouni through the recent Fasig-Tipton July Digital Sale. In his last two starts, he has raced in the name of Omar Ghrghar, a Middle East businessman.

A winner of the $75,000 Big Drama at Gulfstream on May 24 and the $100,000 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes Marion County at Tampa Bay Downs in 2023. Shaq Diesel now has earnings of $425,535 from eight wins, four seconds and four thirds in 26 lifetime starts.

Since the Big Drama, he was third in the $75,000 Smile Sprint won by Implementation over a sloppy six furlongs on July 5 and second to Con Compania (Chi) in an upper level, $75,000 optional claiming at six-and-a-half furlongs on Aug. 2, both at Gulfstream.

Bred in Florida and owned during his first 24 races by Chester Bishop’s Bishop Racing Inc., Shaq Diesel is out of Kleodora, by Tiznow. Among her seven foals, Kleodora has three winners from four starters with Shaq Diesel her only black-typer performer. Most recently sold for $42,000 to Sean S. Perl Bloodstock as an agent at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale, Kleodora has an unraced 2-year-old filly, Welcome Surprise, and an unnamed yearling filly and weanling filly, all by Volatile. She was bred to Speaker’s Corner in 2025.