By B. Jason Brooks
Phipps Stable’s homebred 3-year-old colt Dark Assault will look to graduate on Friday, June 5, going a mile and an eighth over the main track at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Hall of Famer Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey III, Dark Assault has been knocking on the door of graduating, finishing second or third in four of his last five starts.
Most recently, he was runner-up going one mile over the Aqueduct dirt on May 14. Returning from a 75-day layoff with jockey Manny Franco in the irons, Dark Assault broke sharply from the inside post and pressed the leader from the three path. He took a narrow lead near the three-sixteenths pole before being brushed slightly by the eventual winner, but held on gamely for second.
He also showed promise early on in his career as a juvenile, coming up a neck short in his second career start in early October for a maiden special weight at Aqueduct going six furlongs (replay below). Breaking from the inside post with Samuel Marin up, he went to the lead where he showed the way until being caught in the final sixteenth by My World (Essential Quality) to take runner-up honors. The winner, My World, went on to win the Nashua Stakes next time in November, followed by the Jerome Stakes in January.
Dark Assault is a fourth-generation Phipps homebred by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms’ Violence (Medaglia d’Oro) and is the third foal out of the More Than Ready mare Power Move, a debut winner who finished second in the one-mile Tempted Stakes in her second start. Dark Assault’s half-brother Four Beach Friends (Speightstown) was sold as a yearling and recently won the Sprint Into Summer Cup Stakes on May 31.
Dark Assault’s third dam is Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) winner Pleasant Home (Seeking the Gold), the granddam of three-time grade 1 winner Guarana (Ghostzapper) and multiple graded stakes winner Cornucopian (Into Mischief). His fourth dam is Phipps foundation mare Our Country Place (Pleasant Colony), a daughter of multiple grade 1 winner Maplejinsky (Nijinsky II {CAN}). Other notable descendants of Our Country Place include two-time grade 1 winner Pine Island (Arch) and five-time grade 1-winning sire Point of Entry (Dynaformer).
B. Jason Brooks is a Thoroughbred racing and pedigree researcher, writer, and social media manager residing in Saratoga Springs, New York, and can be followed on X at @bjbrooksNY.
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