TRAINER BUTCH REID LOOKING TO BUILD ON “A HECK OF A YEAR”

And on February 3, Reid was back in the winner’s circle at Aqueduct, this time with Uncle Heavy for the Withers Stakes (G3), a race Reid also won back in 2010 with Afleet Again.

And while Reid and owners LC Racing, Cash is King, and Gary Barber have made good use of those programs, they haven’t hesitated to stretch beyond them as well:  she was second in the Cotillion Stakes (G1) at Parx and third in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap and the Comely Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct. Though she’s yet to break through as a graded stakes winner, she’s earned just shy of $900,000 and will be back on the track this year. An $18,000 purchase, she headed south to Barry Eisaman’s farm in central Florida after finishing 2023 with a win in the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Aqueduct. Reid expects her 2024 campaign to begin at Parx in the Unique Bella Stakes, a race she won last April.

2024 might bring two other Reid runners to the $1 million in earnings: both Beren ($897,970) and Smooth B ($818,627) have the chance to hit seven figures this year.

And as Pennsylvania-bred Uncle Heavy’s earnings are close to $300,000 in four starts, the earnings of a talented three-year-old could well contribute to another record year for Reid.

“We want to keep upgrading,” he said. “We continue to set goals. Our previous record for winners was 54 [in 2011], and we got that beat. At this point, hoping to have a $5 million year feels legitimate.”

The Withers winner is named for Reid’s brother Mark, himself a retired trainer. Mark acquired the nickname “Heavy” in the 1970s, when he was working for Dick Dutrow. His nieces and nephews picked it up, calling him “Uncle Heavy,” and a nickname and a namesake was born. Uncle Heavy was bred by Mark’s wife Barabara.

The bay colt is likely to make his next start on April 6, in the Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct, a track over which Reid has had more than little success. In early December, his Dr B won the Go for Wand on Saturday, and Morning Matcha won the Stallion Series Stakes a day later.

“That was a real nice weekend,” he said. “Winning any race in New York is great, and it was good for the owners.”

On February 17 Reid will try to win one in Maryland. He’s scheduled to send out Disco Ebo in the Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie Stakes at Laurel Park. The Pennsylvania-bred Weigelia mare has won 10 of 20 starts and will be hunting her first graded win. Frankie Pennington will ride.

Following an outbreak of equine herpesvirus at Belmont the day after the Withers, Parx prohibited any horses shipping from Belmont to re-enter the grounds. The unfortunate timing put a stop to Uncle Heavy’s active training, and the colt is working on the farm working on a jogging machine.

“We were thinking that we’d get another race into him before the Wood, but now that decision’s been made,” said Reid. “We want to keep him at two turns, so we’ll train up to the Wood.”

The colt’s late-running style is nerve-wracking, and even Reid didn’t think the horse would get there when the field hit the sixteenth pole. But his last half a dozen strides were “monstrous,” said the trainer, and he praised jockey Mychel Sanchez for keeping Uncle Heavy on the outside and clear of kickback up the backstretch of the muddy/sealed track.

“The way he ran down the leader was really something,” said Reid. “He’s a big boy, but he’s got a laid-back attitude about him that I really like.”

Original source credited to theracingbiz.com

Cover Photo Credit to The PTHA