Trainer Jack Sisterson took some friendly advice to heart and ended up owning Sea Hunter, a juvenile colt with a future who will seek to following a recent debut victory in an entry-level optional claiming allowance Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
“The horse was bought by a good friend of mine, Ben McElroy, who does a great job buying horses for Wesley Ward and Stonestreet, and you see what success they have had at Royal Ascot together,” Sisterson said. “With Ben involved, you're always a couple of steps ahead in the game when he buys you a horse. The horse came into the barn with higher expectations and he lived up to that in his debut performance.”
Sea Hunter, an Irish-bred son of Dandy Man, saved ground before making a five-wide move to the lead while graduating at first asking in a five-furlong maiden special weight dash on Tapeta at Gulfstream Park Oct. 29.
The Sisterson trainee is scheduled to make his turf debut in Saturday's Race 3, a five-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds.
“We thought he'd be one who would like the faster turf in America, and that's why we decided to bring him to the United States to run,” Sisterson said. “We're excited to get him on the firm turf at Gulfstream because he worked so well on the firm turf at Palm Meadows the other day.”
Sisterson will saddle Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Steven Rocco and William Branch's Baby Bill for the first time prior to Saturday's Race 4, a 6 ½ maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds on the main track. The gelded son of Gormley finished second in both of his first two career starts for trainer Norm Casse at Churchill Downs before being privately purchased and transferred to Sisterson.
“We were able to breeze him once over the dirt at Palm Meadows and he did that extremely well. He's a big, beautiful horse,” Sisterson said. “Ideally, we wanted to run him in the one-turn maiden, but that didn't fill. But he sprinted twice at Churchill. We thought this race would benefit him. He's bred to go further. His first two runs at Churchill were very good. We're excited to get him going on Saturday.
Sisterson saddled Calumet's What Say Thee for a long-awaited maiden victory last Saturday in a mile-and-70-yard race on Tapeta at Gulfstream.
“He's always been a stakes horse from Day 1. I think less than a victory last week would have been disappointing because of the way he trained. He's always trained like a stakes horse,” Sisterson said.
The 4-year-old son of Into Mischief finished fourth in his debut at Gulfstream in February 2021 before going to the sidelines for a year and a half. He came back to finish a troubled third in a maiden special weight race at Del Mar Sept. 3, earning a berth in the Oct. 1 Japan Cup at Laurel Park. Unfortunately, the stakes was taken off the turf onto a sloppy track, and What Say Thee Struggled. Back on the turf, he lived up to expectations.
“We'll check the condition book in January to see if there's a mile-and-three-eighths or mile-and-a-half allowance for him to get him stretching out,” Sisterson said. “Then, we're looking at the McKnight on Pegasus Day for him.”
The $200,000 W.L. McKnight (G3) is a 1 ½-mile turf stakes for 4-year-olds and up Jan. 28 on the undercard of the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1).
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