Jockey Edwin Gonzalez made it clear that he has made it all the way back from a midsummer injury Thursday at Gulfstream Park, riding the winners of four races, including impressive maiden winner Palmach, on an eight-race card.
The 29-year-old journeyman, who had become an immediate success while riding at Gulfstream Park full time during the Spring/Summer Meet for the first time, was sidelined for seven weeks with a hairline fracture in his right leg that was sustained in a racing mishap July 3. He won three races on his first day back in action Aug. 21, but Gonzalez didn't continue to quite maintain the strike rate that he had enjoyed prior to his injury.
“I'm feeling great. I had 50 days out – that's a long time for me,” said Gonzalez, who won with his last mount Sunday and his first three mounts Thursday. “I'm feeling strong. I kept saying, 'Keep working hard, and everyone will be happy and I'll keep winning races.'”
D J Stable's Palmach bucked the trend on Gulfstream's Tapeta track while capturing the featured $60,000 maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies in Race 4. The Mark Casse-trained daughter of Violence broke alertly to assume an early lead that she would never relinquish on her way to a four-length victory, becoming only the second horse to win from gate to wire in the first 20 races on the newly installed all-weather surface.
“She likes the Tapeta. The first time she was a little green and the turf was a little soft because it was raining that day,” said Gonzalez, who finished fifth aboard Palmach in her Sept. 10 debut over a good turf course. “Today, she loved the Tapeta.”
Although she was the first front-running winner since Wow Tapit wired the field in only the second race run on Tapeta, Palmach did follow an early trend on the all-weather surface, becoming the 12th favorite to come through for their backers. Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Beachnut Trophy, Ken and Sarah Ramsey's homebred daughter of Real Solution, closed from far back to finish second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Todd Pletcher-trained Five Prizes, a daughter of Bernardini who
Palmach, the 9-5 favorite, gave Gonzalez his second of four victories Thursday, when he connected aboard World Gone Wild ($5) in Race 2, Bramble Berry ($8) in Race 5 and Souper All Star ($14.80) through a disqualification in Race 8. Souper All Star was Gonzalez's seventh win from his last 12 mounts.
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