Extravagant Kid Gets Another Shot at Graded Stakes Glory in Woodford Presented by TVG

DARRS Inc.’s Extravagant Kid has accomplished a lot since being claimed in January 2018 at Gulfstream for $75,000 by trainer Brendan Walsh, but a graded stakes victory is not one of them. 

The 7-year-old Florida-bred will attempt to rectify that statistic Saturday when he makes his third start in the $150,000 Woodford (G2) Presented by TVG going 5½ furlongs on the turf. 

Four times Extravagant Kid has run second in graded stakes, including a Grade 1 race, and twice was runner-up at Woodbine to Canadian Horse of the Year Pink Lloyd. 

Since being claimed, Extravagant Kid has posted a 21-7-8-1 record for earnings of $696,292. “He has won a lot of stakes, but never a graded one,” Walsh said. 

Walsh gives all the props to owner David Ross for the claim. 

“He gets all the credit,” Walsh said. “It was his suggestion. I was at the Fair Grounds, and he said he wanted to claim the horse. I looked at (Extravagant Kid’s) form and the more sense it made. He had plenty of back class so we flew to Florida and said ‘Let’s go for it.’ ” 

Extravagant Kid almost broke through last month only to be nailed at the wire by a neck by Diamond Oops in the TwinSpires Turf Sprint (G2) Presented by Sysco to close the Kentucky Oaks (G1) program at Churchill Downs. 

“It looked like he had it,” Walsh said. “Nine times out of 10 a horse does not get up coming up the rail but credit to him (Diamond Oops) – he’s a nice horse. My horse ran his usual good race.” 

For the Woodford Presented by TVG, Extravagant Kid will break from post position one, a spot he has had for his past two Keeneland stakes starts that resulted in a fifth of 13 in July’s Shakertown (G2) and fifth in last year’s Woodford. 

“Last year in the Woodford, he got caught behind two tiring horses and had nowhere to go,” Walsh said. 

Walsh also provided an update on the undefeated Maxfield, winner of last fall’s Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1). 

“He jogged a couple weeks at Churchill Downs and began galloping here this week,” Walsh said of the Godolphin runner, who was sidelined by injury in June. “We are going nice and slow and hopefully he will be ready to work by the end of the meet.”