Photo: MEC
Golden Goose Enterprises, James Covello and Michael Imperio's
5-year-old Citrus Kid makes an ambitious return to competition from a
15-month layoff in Sunday’s $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes at
Gulfstream Park with jockey Joe Rocco, Jr. aboard for trainer John
Terranova.
A son of Lemon Drop Kid, Citrus Kid made his last nine starts on
turf during the 2010-11 seasons, placing in Graded stakes and finishing a
close-up fourth in the Hollywood Derby (G1) when beaten less than a
length for it all. He won allowance races at Gulfstream and Keeneland
during that time.
“We’ve been looking for a spot to bring him back,” said Terranova
Friday morning from Palm Meadows. “We had him entered in the Tropical
Park Turf (G3) at Calder (Nov. 30), but the course there got a little
rough at the end of the meet, so we scratched.
“This may not be the ideal spot, but he needs to get going again. He
has run well on dirt and won the Dover Stakes (Delaware Park) as a
2-year-old, and he trains fantastic on dirt. More than likely he’ll end
up back on turf in the bigger races here later in the season.”
Citrus Kid also finished third on dirt in the Remsen Stakes (G2) at
Aqueduct after the Dover victory before switching to turf the next
summer at Saratoga. The Harlan’s Holiday will mark his first start since
finishing second in the PTHA President’s Cup at Parx on Sept. 17, 2011.
“We stopped on him because of a series of minor problems that took
time,” said Terranova. “We turned him out for a while. He never had a
problem that required surgery, but we had to stop on him a couple of
times as we tried to bring him back. He’s a neat old class horse and
we’re looking forward to getting him going again.”