With a comeback race under her belt, Diamond 100 Racing Club, Amy Dunne and trainer Patrick Biancone's stakes winner Diamond Wow makes her return to the turf in an overflow field of 13 for Saturday's $125,000 Herecomesthebride (G3) at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
The 35th running of the Herecomesthebride for 3-year-old fillies and 36th renewal of the $125,000 Palm Beach for 3-year-olds, both going one mile, are among six turf stakes on a blockbuster 13-race program offering nine stakes, eight graded, worth $1.7 million in purses including 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.
First race post time is 12:10 p.m.
Named for the South Florida-based mare that won 12 of 16 starts and six stakes including the 1977 Bonnie Miss at Gulfstream and 1978 Columbiana Handicap (G3) at Hialeah, the Herecomesthebride anchors a mega promotion between Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita, which will host 15 stakes, 14 graded, between them on Saturday.
The Coast to Coast All Dirt Stakes Pick 5 and Coast to Coast All Turf Stakes Pick 5, multi-race wagers with a $1 minimum and a low 12 percent takeout, will be on the cross-track wagering menu. There will also be a free contest with the chance to win a $5 million jackpot for picking the winners of all 15 stakes that will be run that day at the 1/ST sister tracks.
Diamond Wow notched back-to-back wins to open her career at Gulfstream, graduating in on debut in front-running fashion last August before coming from off the pace to become a popular winner of the off-the-turf Our Dear Peggy three weeks later. Biancone brought her to Kentucky, stretched her out and put her back on turf for the 1 1/16-mile Jessamine (G2), where she was beaten a head after a difficult trip.
A win would have earned Diamond Wow a free trip to Del Mar for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1), but Biancone instead opted to give the chestnut daughter of two-time champion Lookin At Lucky a break until her 3-year-old season.
“She's doing really good,” he said. “Obviously we missed the Breeders' Cup because she was a bit tired at that point of the year, but we had a plan to prepare her for the spring, step by step, to have her ready for the big races in April and May.”
Part of that plan was bringing Diamond Wow back in the Feb. 5 Forward Gal sprinting seven furlongs at Gulfstream, the same track and distance as the Our Dear Peggy. She chased eventual winner Girl With a Dream for a half-mile before winding up fourth, less than a length behind stakes winner and fellow Herecomesthebride entrant Last Leaf.
“I wanted to run her short the first time because I know she'd be a bit too fresh, and she showed exactly that. But she ran a good race, a good prep race, and now she can go two turns with no problem,” Biancone said. “We expect her to improve on her first race. She worked really well and we're looking forward to seeing her doing the talking.”
Regular rider Romero Maragah will be aboard from Post 3.
Teneri Farm and J Stables' Opalina, similarly based in South Florida, also went to the Jessamine off a 12-length maiden win at Gulfstream, but lost all chance following a troubled start yet rallied to make a late run and be fifth, beaten 1 ½ lengths. She came back to run third in the one-mile Ginger Brew Jan. 1 and broke through with a three-quarter-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile Sweetest Chant (G3) Feb. 5, both over her home track.
Championship Meet-leading rider Luis Saez will climb back aboard from Post 8.
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. won last year's Herecomesthebride with Con Lima, and they will team up again Saturday with Michael Tabor's homebred Beside Herself. The bay daughter of champion Uncle Mo was third in a pair of maiden special weights last fall and winter before breaking through with a gate-to-wire 3 ¼-length victory going 1 1/16 miles on the Gulfstream turf Jan. 30.
Pletcher is confident that Beside Herself, having shown the ability to win and run well both on and off the lead, will find herself in a comfortable spot breaking from Post 5.
“I think it'll just depend on how the race shapes up. I think she can be effective either way,” Pletcher said. “She's coming off the maiden win but I like the spacing and I want to give her a try in a stakes race.”
Stakes winners Howdyoumakeurmoney, Last Leaf, Lemieux, Lia Marina and Mischievous Kiss are also entered, along with last out maiden winners Dia de Sol, and Spendarella. Rounding out the field are Bali Del Sol, Soul of an Angel and Dolce Zel, the latter listed as the lone also-eligible.
Multiple Stakes Winner Red Danger Tops $125,000 Palm Beach
Silverton Hill's multiple stakes winner Red Danger will take on eight rivals including Grade 3 winner Coinage and Credibility, his Grade 2-placed stablemate from the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, in Saturday's $125,000 Palm Beach for 3-year-olds on turf.
Red Danger won the 6 ½-furlong Juvenile Sprint at Kentucky Downs last fall and the 7 ½-furlong Pulpit Dec. 3 at Gulfstream as a 2-year-old for trainer Brian Lynch. The son of 2013 Fountain of Youth (G2), Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Orb kicked off his sophomore campaign running fifth by 2 ¼ lengths in the 1 1/16-mile Kitten's Joy (G3) Feb. 5 at Gulfstream.
St. Elias Stable and Repole Stable's Triple Crown-nominated Royal Spirit ran second in the Kitten's Joy, taking a lead into the stretch before being beaten a neck by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate Grand Sonata. Winless in three starts at 2 including a pair of stakes, Royal Spirit was a professional maiden special weight winner sprinting 7 ½ furlongs Jan. 2 at Gulfstream.
Chester and Mary Broman and D. J. Stable's Coinage began his career on dirt against New York-breds, but was successful moving to turf and trying open company in the With Anticipation (G3) at Saratoga, going the 1 1/16-mile distance up front to win by two lengths. He was beaten by Royal Spirit in two of his last three starts, the one-mile Nownownow last fall at Monmouth Park and the Kitten's Joy, running third each time.
D. J. Stable also bred Harry Rosenblum's Credibility, by 2016 Florida Derby-Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist. Credibility has enjoyed success at Gulfstream, breaking his maiden on debut last August going a mile over the turf. Third in the Bourbon (G2) before finishing off the board in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1), he was a gutsy neck winner of a one-mile, 70-yard optional claiming allowance Jan. 22 that was moved off the grass to Gulfstream's all-weather Tapeta.
Main Event and Moms Moon both exit maiden special weight wins at Gulfstream. Harrell Ventures' Main Event graduated in front-running fashion going 1 1/16 miles Jan. 30 in his turf debut, while Mill Ridge Farm's Moms Moon went gate-to-wire to win by a neck in a one-mile trip over good ground Jan. 15.
Also entered are C My Meister, third in Colonial Downs' Kitten's Joy and Gulfstream's Juvenile last year; Bueno Bueno, a winner on turf and dirt that ran third in an optional claimer sprinting 5 ½ furlongs over the Gulfstream Tapeta Feb. 3; and maiden Sosua Summer.
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