Cottage Hoping to Lure the Right Rider for the Lure

Even though he's an 8-year-old gelding, Bruce Golden and Gerry Reid's Argentina-bred Cottage is looking for Mr. or Ms. Right for a potentially fruitful partnership in Saturday's $75,000 Lure Stakes on the Florida Derby undercard.

According to the team that works with the veteran, they would love Mr. Right to be Mr. Rose, as in jockey Jeremy Rose, but that might be difficult.

"He's a really tough horse to ride," said Hugo Padilla, trainer Scott Lake's assistant at Gulfstream. "We want Rose to stay with him, but he probably has another call in the race. That's the problem because he seemed to do so well with him last time."

That last time was a second-place finish in a similar one-mile turf allowance race where he missed catching Live Oak Plantation's Old Forester. Prior to that he was third behind highly regarded stakes-winner Muqbil, also while teamed with Rose.

"The plan would probably be the same with him (Saturday)," said Padilla. "If there's pace in there, he could sit just off it, or he could be the one who sets it, but we've got to find somebody that can get along with him."

If Lake and Padilla have to resort to personal ads to attract a new jockey, they feel like the gelded son of Argentine sire Ibero has plenty of attractive qualities. "He is very particular, but he can also do whatever you want with him," said Padilla. "He can rate or he can go to the lead, but he just needs to get along with the rider. Hopefully, we can find the right one because he's ready to go."