Stablemates Beautiful Lover and Sorrel, separated by a neck in the La Prevoyante (G3) Jan. 29, will find themselves in the same starting gate again among a field of nine set to gather for Saturday's $150,000 The Very One (G3) at Gulfstream Park.
The 34th running of the 1 3/8-mile The Very One for fillies and mares 4 and up on the grass is part of a blockbuster 13-race program offering nine stakes, eight graded, worth $1.7 million in purses anchored by the $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) for 3-year-olds on the road to the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) April 2.
Six of the Fountain of Youth Day stakes are scheduled for the turf, led by the $200,000 Mac Diarmida (G2) for 4-year-olds and up going 1 3/8 miles. First race post time is 12:10 p.m.
Moyglare Stud Farm, Ltd.'s Beautiful Lover won the 2019 Boiling Springs and had run second in both the 2020 Hillsborough (G2) and Matchmaker (G3) before breaking through with her first graded triumph in Gulfstream's 1 ½-mile La Prevoyante. Newly minted Eclipse Award winner Joel Rosario negotiated a ground-saving trip before swinging outside in mid-stretch to run down Sorrel.
Augustin Stable and James Wigan's Sorrel won three straight races in England before making her U.S. debut in the 2021 Orchid (G3) at Gulfstream, where she ran third to subsequent Grade 1 winner War Like Goddess. The Dansili mare didn't race again for eight months, returning to be fifth in the Long Island (G3) last November at Aqueduct. She was seventh, beaten less than five lengths, in the 1 3/8-mile Via Borghese Dec. 31 in her La Prevoyante prep.
Rosario is named to ride Beautiful Lover back from Post 8 with Sorrel and jockey Jose Ortiz alongside in far outside Post 9.
Sanford Bacon and Patrick Biancone Racing's Kelsey's Cross won the 2020 Ginger Punch at Gulfstream and was third in the 2019 Wonder Again (G3) and to Beautiful Lover in the 2020 Hillsborough. She will be stretching out to her longest distance since finishing fourth by less than four lengths in the 1 ½-mile Dowager (G3) over a Keeneland turf rated good last October.
“She's not a champion, but she's a nice filly. She runs well all the time. She ran extremely well going a mile and a half at Keeneland at the end of the year, so we wanted to give her another try going long again and see how she does and go from there,” trainer Patrick Biancone said. “She's doing very well at the moment. If you look at her races, the only times she hasn't performed was one time on the Tapeta and one time on the dirt, because she doesn't like it. She's strictly turf.”
Kelsey's Cross drew the rail with jockey Romero Maragh aboard.
Flaxman Holdings, Ltd.'s French Group 3 winner Harajuku ran second, beaten a nose by multiple graded-stakes winner Always Shopping in the Via Borghese, taking a short lead at the top of the stretch and dueling through the lane before coming up just short. Trainer Graham Motion decided pass on the longer La Prevoyante and wait for this spot.
“I kicked myself a little bit for not running back last time on Pegasus Day, but the flipside of that is she's a fresher filly for this race,” Motion said. “I thought she ran very well last time. I think she really appreciates the firm ground, whereas she may not be as effective on softer ground you get in New York and such in the fall.”
Harajuku won the 2021 Prix Cleopatre (G3) at Saint Cloud in her fifth career start, coming to the U.S. late last summer. She joined Motion after finishing third in the 1 3/8-mile Jockey Club Oaks Invitational in her stateside debut, 2 ½ lengths behind subsequent Grade 1 winner Shantisara.
“I do wonder how far she wants to go, and that was part of the reason for not running her last time. I was kind of concerned about the mile and a half. I think she really is like a mile and a quarter type,” Motion said. “Hopefully, we get away with a mile and three-eighths. She almost got it the last time [she tried it]. The mile and a half is a little further than what she wants. That's kind of what it looked like last time.”
Junior Alvarado will be aboard for the fourth straight start, breaking from Post 2.
Bobby Flay's Mezcal will be making just her seventh career start and first against stakes company, exiting a front-running 1 ¼-length optional claiming allowance triumph going 1 ½ miles Jan. 13 at Gulfstream, a race moved from the turf to the all-weather Tapeta. She graduated in a 1 ¼-mile maiden special weight last fall on the Belmont Park turf, and was second as the favorite in a 1 3 1/6-mile allowance at Aqueduct.
“She won on the synthetic, but I think she's a little better on the turf and this is the kind of distance she likes,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “She broke her maiden on the turf and then won the off-the-turf synthetic race. She proved she could handle the distance in that, going a mile and a half, and now it's just switching back to the turf. [She's] stepping up in class a bit, but she's a filly that seems to be improving.”
Championship Meet-leading Luis Saez gets the riding assignment from Post 6.
Completing the field are German Group 3 winner Virginia Joy, beaten a neck in her most recent start, the 1 ½-mile River Memories last July at Belmont Park; 2021 Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon winner Family Way; Onyx, sixth last out in the La Prevoyante; and Quinevere, unraced since finishing off the board in Aqueduct's Winter Memories last November.
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