Month: March 2022

Moyglare Stud Farm, Ltd.'s multiple stakes-winning mare Beautiful Lover, who earned graded status in the La Prevoyante (G3) to kick off her 6-year-old season, will head to the breeding shed after making her final start in Saturday's $150,000 Orchid (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

The 58th running of the 1 3/8-mile Orchid for fillies and mares 4 and up on turf is part of a blockbuster program that includes 10 stakes, six graded, worth $2.2 million anchored by the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa, one of the country's premier Triple Crown preps.

Post time for the first of 14 races is 11:30 a.m.

Unraced at 2, Beautiful Lover won the 2019 Boiling Springs as a 3-year-old in her stakes debut and went on to place in six other stakes including the 2020 Matchmaker (G2) before becoming a graded winner in the 1 ½-mile La Prevoyante Jan. 29 at Gulfstream. Most recently, she ran fourth after setting the pace in the 1 3/8-mile The Very One (G3) last out.

“She won a Grade 3 and came back a bit below form last time out. I still think she's training well,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “It will be her last race before she's being retired. The idea is to run her there and then become a broodmare.”

Beautiful Lover was uncharacteristically on the lead in her most recent start, one where the half-mile went in 50.86 seconds. It was not unlike the La Prevoyante, which had a :50.50 half and the Arch mare was able to rally from her stalking trip to edge stablemate Sorrel by a neck.

“It was a touch of a paceless trip last time,” Clement's son and assistant, Miguel, said. “She found herself in the front, which may not have been where she wanted to be that day. Her start two back was very impressive, and I think she's going to run that sort of race again because she's going into this race quite well.”

Beautiful Lover has had a pair of five-furlong works, each in 1:02, following her latest start, and will have newly minted Eclipse Award winner Joel Rosario back aboard for the third straight race as starting topweight of 123 pounds.

“She showed a good turn of foot [in the La Prevoyante],” Miguel Clement said. “She's training very well at the moment. She's eating great and training great, and I'm actually very excited to see her run. I would be very disappointed if she doesn't provide a good account of herself.”

Trainer Graham Motion entered the pair of Harajuku and Sister Otoole in the Orchid. Flaxman Holdings, Ltd.'s Harajuku was third, beaten 1 ½ lengths, in the March 5 The Very One. In her prior effort, the 4-year-old Irish-bred filly was second by a nose to Always Shopping in the 1 3/8-mile Via Borghese Dec. 31 at Gulfstream.

“I thought she ran very well last time. I thought the form kind of held up from her previous start,” Motion said. “She was only beaten a length and a half and I thought it was a good effort. She beat the fillies that she beat in the Via Borghese and then some of those fillies came back and ran well in the race on Pegasus Day.

“She wasn't beaten by much and she's done really well since. I do question how far she really wants to go,” he added. “I kind of skipped the race on Pegasus Day because I'm not convinced she wants to go a mile and a half, but she obviously likes Gulfstream so I think it makes sense to give her a shot in here.”

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Sister Otoole ran fifth in back-to-back starts just seven days apart, the Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf, contested at a mile and 70 yards on Gulfstream's Tapeta course, and the La Prevoyante. Motion has given her plenty of time since.

“I ran her back very quickly the last time,” Motion said. “I kind of really backed off her after that to give her a little bit of an easy time. This wasn't necessarily on our agenda, but it figured to be a shorter field so why not take a shot.”

Peachtree Stable's Champagne Ivy is set to make her graded debut out of a front-running 2 ¼-length optional claiming allowance going 1 ½ miles Feb. 10 at Gulfstream. Each of her last three races have come on Gulfstream's all-weather surface, but she has finished worse than third only once in eight career tries on turf with a win in a conditioned 1 1/16-mile allowance last June at Belmont Park.

“We think she's gotten better with distance. Now we're going to try her on the turf,” Championship Meet-leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “We think she's better on the turf, but obviously the class check is going to be the big question mark, if she can run with these kind of horses. But she'll definitely like the mile and a half, and we'll give her a chance.”

Hunter Valley Farm, Debra O'Connor and Marc Detampel's Family Way, second in the The Very One; Calumet Farm homebred Scarabea, fourth by a half-length in the La Prevoyante last out; and Augustin Stable homebred Song of Innocence, runner-up in a Feb. 10 optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream, round out the field.

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Courtlandt Farms' Greatest Honour is scheduled to make his long-awaited return to Gulfstream Park, the site of the son of Tapit's greatest performances of his career thus far, to run in Saturday's $100,000 Ghostzapper (G3), one of 10 stakes worth $2.2 million on a program headlined by the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa.

Greatest Honour finished third in last year's Florida Derby, closing from far back to finish 5 3/5 lengths behind victorious Known Agenda. The 4-year-old colt had earned 4-5 favoritism in last year's Florida Derby off a string of three straight victories at Gulfstream, graduating in his fourth career start, capturing the Holy Bull (G3) by 5 ¾ lengths, and winning the Fountain of Youth (G2) with a late rush.

Greatest Honour went to the sidelines for nearly a year following the Florida Derby, returning to action in the 1 1/16-mile Challenger (G3) March 12 at Tampa Bay Downs, finishing a disappointing sixth, five lengths behind the winner.

“I wanted to run him in New York in a one-turn allowance going a mile. I just didn't feel like the race would fill, so I took the horse to Tampa around two turns on a little deeper track,” McGaughey said. “I didn't think he ran too bad for his first start. He kind of broke sharp and was a little closer than he usually is. He came out of it good and got a solid race. He's not the best work horse in the world, so I think the race is going to help him.”

Greatest Honour's past successes at Gulfstream have given McGaughey reason to expect a much- improved performance Saturday.

“That was our thinking. They have the Excelsior in New York the same weekend, but I said, 'He's run well here. He's only an hour-and-a-half up the road.'” McGaughey said. “We're looking forward to running him.”

Greatest Honour will return to Gulfstream a bigger, more willing Thoroughbred.

“He's a big, tall kind of horse. Last year, you had to sort of make him do what he's does. This year, he does it without really even asking him, even in his gallops,” McGaughey said. “I'm pleased with what he's doing, but, like I say, racing is his friend.”

Jose Ortiz has the return mount aboard Greatest Honour.

Repole Stable's Fearless, who has also demonstrated a distinct fondness for the Gulfstream Park racetrack, enters the Ghostzapper off a second-place finish behind red-hot Speaker's Corner in the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2), a one-turn mile stakes he had captured in 2021.

A son of Ghostzapper, the 6-year-old gelding captured the 1 1/16-mile Harlan's Holiday (G3) Dec. 12 in his second start off a six-month layoff. The Todd Pletcher trainee finished second behind Speaker's Corner in the mile Fred W. Hooper (G3) prior to the Gulfstream Park Mile.

Luis Saez will be back aboard Fearless Saturday.

A.J. Suited Racing Stable LLC's Commandeer is set to make his first start Saturday since finishing seventh in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) Jan. 29 at Gulfstream. The Jimmy Toner-trained 4-year-old son of Street Boss had entered the Pegasus off a pair of optional claiming allowance wins at Laurel Park and Churchill Downs.

Tyler Gaffalione has the call aboard Commandeer.

Chestnut Hill Stable's Capocostello is scheduled to make his second U.S. start since arriving from Panama, where 6-year-old son of Cross Traffic was a multiple Group 1 winner. The Fausto Gutierrez-trained gelding finished fourth behind Olympiad in an optional claiming allowance in his U.S. debut.

Irad Ortiz is slated to ride Capocostello for the first time Saturday.

Three Chimneys Farm, Fern Circle Stables and C&H Diamond Racing LLC's Laughing Boy, who showed the way before coming up just short to finish second behind Commander in a Nov. 25 optional claiming allowance at Churchill Downs, is scheduled to make his 2022 debut in the Ghostzapper. The son of Distorted Humor won a first-level allowance at Keeneland in his previous start.

Julien Leparoux has the mount.

Good Friends II LLC's Carlos L., a stakes winner at Oakland in 2021 who is slated to make his 2022 debut Saturday, and Magic Cap Stables' Twelve Volt Man, who won the Claiming Crown Jewel two starts back, round out the field.

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Otter Bend Stables' Gufo, a multiple Grade 1 winner unraced since the first off-the-board finish of his career in last fall's Breeders' Cup Turf (G1), is set to open his 5-year-old season in Saturday's $200,000 Pan American (G2) presented by Rood and Riddle at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The 61st running of the 1 ½-mile Pan American for 4-year-olds and up on turf is part of a blockbuster program that includes 10 stakes, six graded, worth $2.2 million anchored by the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa, one of the country's premier Triple Crown preps.

Post time for the first of 14 races is 11:30 a.m.

A chestnut son of European Group 1 winner Declaration of War, Gufo had never run worse than third in 12 starts before coming up empty in his Breeders' Cup debut. He entered the race off a third in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1) and back-to-back wins in the Sword Dancer (G1) and Grand Couturier, all at 1 ½ miles.

“There were perhaps a lot of factors going against him that day, pace being one of them,” trainer Christophe Clement's son and assistant, Miguel, said of the Breeders' Cup. “He had a very bad draw. He never settled throughout the first part of the race because it was a paceless race. He was perhaps a bit too keen, and it was perhaps one race too many for the campaign. Previously he was never out of the money. He is very consistent and he had never run a bad race.”

Each of his last four starts came with the addition of blinkers, which Miguel Clement said Gufo would not wear in his comeback race. Joel Rosario, recent winner of his first Eclipse Award as champion jockey, will be aboard for the seventh straight start, breaking from Post 3 in a field of seven.

“We will take the blinkers off and it will be up to Joel Rosario to figure it out. This is a horse with a lot of ability, and the trip has to be timed just right,” Clement said. “He has a great turn of foot, so we're looking forward to getting him back to the races. I'm excited for him.”

Gufo became a Grade 1 winner in the 2020 Belmont Derby Invitational (G1) going 1 ¼ miles and has come within half a length of winning two more. In successive starts he was beaten a neck when third in the 2020 Hollywood Derby, at 1 1/8 miles, shorter than his preferred distance, and a nose in the 1 3/8-mile Man o' War to open 2021.

A five-time stakes winner including the 2020 Kent (G3), in which he set the Delaware Park course record for 1 1/8 miles on the grass, Gufo gave Clement his 2,000th career victory in a March 27, 2020 optional claiming allowance on the Gulfstream turf, his third lifetime start. He is owned by retired Dr. Stephen Cainelli of Otter Bend and co-bred by Cainelli and longtime friend Dr. John Little, also retired.

“He's been with us since the very beginning,” Clement said. “We're very fond of him.”

Gufo is 3-for-3 lifetime on the Gulfstream turf, also having graduated in a December 2019 maiden special weight over future stablemate Voodoo Zip before earning his first stakes victory over 10 rivals in the May 2020 English Channel. He shows seven timed works since mid-February for his return, where he is second choice on the morning line at 9-5.

“He's training very forwardly,” Christophe Clement said. “I don't have quite as many breezes as I wanted to, but his works have been very good so I thought we might as well try him.”

Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher's Temple is the lone horse returning from last year's Pan Am, in which he ran sixth behind upset winner Churn N Burn. After placing three times, including back-to-back editions of Gulfstream's W.L. McKnight (G3) in 2021 and 2022, the 6-year-old gelding became a graded-stakes winner for the first time in the March 5 Mac Diarmida (G2).

“He ran well. The setup was probably in his favor,” Nolan Ramsey, assistant to trainer Mike Maker said. “It was a great ride by Jose [Ortiz], so no complaints there. We hope to have the same setup. He obviously likes the track and likes the distance. We couldn't be bringing him in in any better form, so we'll hope for the best.”

Ortiz returns to ride Temple (5-2) from Post 6.

Maker also entered Three Diamonds Farm's Tide of the Sea, who ran eighth after stalking the pace in the Mac Diarmida. The 6-year-old son of turf champion English Channel won the 2021 McKnight over the Gulfstream turf and last visited the winner's circle in the 1 ½-mile Japan Turf Cup last October at Laurel Park.

Tyler Gaffalione has the call on Tide of the Sea (20-1) from Post 4.

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Alex Daigneault's Abaan enters the Pan American having run fourth in the Mac Diarmida after beating Temple by two lengths to win the Jan. 29 McKnight, also contested at 1 ½ miles. The Mac Diarmida result snapped a three-race win streak for 5-year-old Abaan that included his first stakes victory in the two-mile H. Allen Jerkens Dec. 24 at Gulfstream.

“He's been just another [Todd] Pletcher masterpiece, really,” Eclipse founder and president Aron Wellman said. “He's not an easy horse to train. He's got his quirks and it took us a little time to find out what his niche was, but now that he's found his niche as a turf marathoner I think he's made his claim for one of the top in the division. We're eager for him to redeem himself and hopefully he'll do that.”

The typically front-running Abaan, the 8-5 program favorite, found himself uncharacteristically far back in the Mac Diarmida, running eighth and in traffic through a half-mile before attempting a bid on the outside under Championship Meet-leading rider Luis Saez, who gets a return call from Post 5.

“He didn't leave the rail running and lost his position and it got real messy for about the first half-mile, five-eighths,” Wellman said. “Luis had to use him and make a bit of a premature move up the backside and then really wide around the turn. All things considered, I actually think he ran a pretty admirable race and probably didn't get enough credit for the effort itself. Hopefully we'll have a little bit cleaner trip on Saturday.”

Daniel Alonso's Novo Sol is entered to make his second North American start in the Pan American. Group 1-placed in his native Brazil last spring, he was a three-quarter-length winner of his U.S. debut going 1 1/16 miles in a Jan. 5 optional claiming allowance originally scheduled for the grass but moved to Gulfstream's Tapeta course.

“He came to us in late October and ran in January, so we had him for about 2 ½ months,” Championship Meet-leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “He's a great-looking horse, and he trains like a decent horse. You're always a bit reserved at first to know how they'll run, but I thought the way he won his first time in America was impressive. Now he'll have to step up in class again and we'll see how it goes.”

Novo Sol (20-1) will break from the rail with Irad Ortiz Jr. up.

Phipps Stable homebred Bakers Bay (20-1), sixth in the McKnight for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey; and Patricia Generazio homebred Mid-Day Image (12-1), a front-running 5 ¼-length optional claiming allowance winner going 1 1/16 miles Feb. 27 at Gulfstream, complete the field.

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Winngate Stables LLC's Kathleen O. will put an undefeated record on the line when the 3-year-old daughter of Upstart makes her two-turn debut in Saturday's $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) after producing three late-closing gems around one turn.

“I'm looking forward to running her around two turns Saturday and see how that goes,” Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said. “I think she'll run around two turns. She's never done it, but she's out of an Arch mare and Flatter is A.P. Indy – that's all two-turn dirt. I think it will be fine.”

The 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream Park Oaks, a prep for the Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs May 6, will be featured on Saturday's 14-race program, along with the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa and eight other stakes. The 52nd running of the Gulfstream Oaks will offer 170 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks with 100 going to the winner, 40 to the runner-up, 20 for the third-place finisher and 10 to the fourth-place finisher.

McGaughey has saddled four winners of the Gulfstream Park Oaks – Glitter Woman (1997), My Flag ($1996), Inside Information (1994 and Dispute (1993). Dispute went on to win the Kentucky Oaks.

Kathleen O. was installed as the 4-5 morning-line favorite in a field of seven after drawing Post Position No. 7 Wednesday.

Kathleen O. debuted over a sloppy Aqueduct racetrack Nov. 12, closing from sixth in mid-stretch to score by a head in a seven-furlong maiden special weight race. The daughter of Upstart was ultra-impressive in her stakes debut at Gulfstream, capturing the Jan. 1 Cash Run going away by 6 ½ lengths at a one-turn mile despite being shut off at the break. The Kentucky-bred filly rallied from last March 5 to score by two lengths in the one-mile Davona Dale (G2).

“She's doing fine at Payson. She's had two works since she ran. She worked Saturday and she looked good,” McGaughey said. “She's kind of a big, tall filly right now, so I think she's still got some filling in to do. She seems to like to train. So far, so good with her.”

Hall of Famer Javier Castellano has the return mount aboard the McGaughey trainee.

Red Oak Stable's Goddess of Fire enters the Gulfstream Park Oaks off a close-up second in the Feb. 19 Rachel Alexandra (G2). The daughter of Mineshaft, who held the lead in the stretch before finishing a half-length behind victorious Turnerloose in the 1 1/16-mile Fair Grounds stakes, had previously closed from well off the pace to finish second in the seven-furlong Gasparilla at Tampa Bay Downs.

Goddess of Fire, who drew Post No. 7, is rated second in the morning line at 9-5.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who saddled Dreaming of Julia for a victory in the 2013 Gulfstream Park Oaks, has awarded the mount aboard Goddess of Fire to Luis Saez.

Augustin Stable's Catiche is set to make her stakes debut in the Gulfstream Park Oaks off a six-length maiden score at 1 1/16 miles over the Tapeta course March 6.

Irad Ortiz Jr. has the call aboard the Jonathan Thomas trainee, who is rated third in the morning line at 6-1.

Edward Seltzer's Running Legacy is scheduled to make her main-track debut in the Oaks. The Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained daughter of Gun Runner won at first asking in a mile-and-70-yard maiden special weight race over the Tapeta surface at Gulfstream. The homebred filly finished a troubled fifth in a 7 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance on turf March 16,

Tyler Gaffalione has the call aboard Running Legacy.

Sumaya U.S. Stables' Amani's Image, a daughter of Tapit, enters the Oaks off a third-place optional claiming allowance finish that followed a maiden victory at Tampa Bay Downs.

Trainer Fausto Gutierrez named Jose Ortiz to ride the Kentucky-bred filly.

Trainer Daniel Hurtak's Blustery, who is slated to make her stakes debut off the claim out of a victory in a $35,000 maiden claiming race; and CJ Thoroughbreds' Cancel This, who is coming off a pair of fourth-place finishes in optional claiming allowances for trainer Dale Romans, round out the field.

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