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Maximus Meridius lands elusive stakes victory in $150K Gravesend

by Mary Eddy

After four previous placings at stakes level, LC Racing, Cash is King and trainer Butch Reid, Jr.'s Maximus Meridius earned his first stakes victory in Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Gravesend, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Piloted by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, the sophomore son of Maximus Mischief entered from a runner-up effort to Valentine Candy in the Steel Valley Sprint on November 25 at Mahoning Valley Race Course, where he held onto place honors by a nose over Grade 2-winner World Record. The Gravesend marked Maximus Meridius’ first start at the Big A since finishing second in the Listed Gold Fever in May.

"He's always been a very talented horse, and he really hasn't given us everything,” said Reid, Jr., who brought his total career training wins to 992. “Johnny was really impressed with him - his gallop out was good and strong, and he doesn't think a little further is out of the question either.”

Maximus Meridius emerged sharply from post 4-of-7 and settled towards the inside to sit just off the pace set by Toxic Gray, who marked the opening quarter-mile in 22.35 seconds over the sloppy and sealed main track.

Twenty Four Mamba stalked a wide third approaching the turn as Full Moon Madness, who was squeezed at the break, searched for room to make his move under Kendrick Carmouche. Enough daylight showed between a tiring Toxic Gray and Maximus Meridius in the turn, allowing Full Moon Madness to split rivals and make it four across the track at the top of the lane with the half-mile elapsed in 45.75.

Toxic Gray backpedaled with Twenty Four Mamba spinning his wheels in the stretch, leaving a game Maximus Meridius the one for Full Moon Madness to run down as he bore down on his outside and threatened to sweep by with every stride. A determined Maximus Meridius found more in the final strides and would not let his rival go by, crossing the wire a half-length in front in a final time of 1:10.33.

Dual graded stakes-winner Runninsonofagun, who was in need of room in the turn while carrying a field-high 126 pounds, hit daylight near the sixteenth pole and made a late surge, but could not catch the dueling top pair and settled for third 1 1/4 lengths back with Top Gunner completing the superfecta. Toxic Gray, Tivy and Twenty Four Mamba completed the order of finish.

Maximus Meridius was cross-entered in Tuesday’s Blitzen at Parx Racing, but Reid, Jr. said the bay colt was ready to race Saturday.

“We hadn’t trained all week but he had a really beautiful breeze last week so I knew he was certainly fit enough for this but he got out yesterday morning and had a nice little gallop, got to stretch his legs and he ate up everything last night and we decided to go ahead and take a shot,” said Reid, Jr.

Reid, Jr. added he was pleased with the trip Velazquez engineered.

"He has a bad habit of waiting on horses in the lane. The last couple starts we've been taking him back, but he broke so sharp for Johnny today and he did the right thing,” Reid, Jr. said. “I thought there were 2-or-3 speed horses that might outfoot us, but he broke sharp and Johnny put him in a nice, close position and he said he was doing it comfortably and that was fine with me."

Velazquez said he was content to let Jose Lezcano control the first quarter-mile aboard Toxic Gray.

"I saw Jose trying to go, trying to go, and I took a good hold of my horse. I said, 'I'm not going to fight him much.' I put my hands down with a nice hold of him,” Velazquez explained. “Then at the quarter-pole, someone moved on the outside, I don't know who, but I was like, 'oh, now I've got to go.' He put in a very good fight down the lane."

Bred in Pennsylvania by Westerly Farm, Maximus Meridius is out of the winning Quiet American mare Quiet Virtue. He banked $82,500 in victory and improved his record to 13-4-4-1 while returning $6.90 on a $2 win ticket.

Carmouche, aboard the Michelle Nevin-trained Full Moon Madness, lamented the troubled start for the Grade 3-placed gelding.

"I think the break cost my horse the victory. I thought he was ready the first time, whenever they went to pop them, he moved around a little and he wasn't ready the next time,” Carmouche said. “He broke a step slow but I had the race in my hand the whole race, just that Johnny had a better set-up, he was sitting there the whole time no pressure. His horse out beat mine in the last sixteenth of a mile. I was pleased with my horse. I thought my horse ran hard, did everything perfect... a little bit better break and we could've changed the outcome maybe.”

Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with a nine-race card featuring the Listed $150,000 Queens County in Race 8 on Closing Day of the Aqueduct fall meet. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct Racetrack fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the fall meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.