Graded winner Stolen Holiday, graded-stakes placed Bay Storm and Diamond Wow, and the lightly-raced mare Scotish Star and filly Lady Rockstar lead a competitive and intriguing cast of 10 in Saturday's $125,000 Suwannee River (G3) at Gulfstream Park.
The Suwannee River, a one-mile turf event for fillies and mares, is one of six stakes, five graded, worth $850,000 in purses on an 11-race New Year's Eve program. First-race post time is 12:10 p.m.
The Suwannee River is a wide-open event. Consider the 3-year-old filly Diamond Wow, runner-up in last fall's Jessamine (G2) at Keeneland but has raced only three times since.
“She run a beautiful race at Keeneland last year and she was supposed to go to the Breeders' Cup, but got sick so we cancelled the trip,” said trainer Patrick Biancone. “From there she had been sick nearly a year until the end of August. We finally find a way to treat her and get her right. We gave her a prep race on Tapeta in the fall (Nov. 11) to go to Keeneland for the Queen Elizabeth (G1). Unfortunately, she got a cold over there. It was so cold. She had a temperature and mucus, and we were not able to run. So, we came back home and wait for the winter.”
Joel Rosario has been named on Diamond Wow.
Lady Rockstar, a daughter of Frankel, won her first two races in the U.S. but finished fifth as the favorite last time out in July in the Matchmaker (G3). Then there's Scotish Star.
A 5-year-old mare by Key Deputy, Scotish Star broke her maiden in Argentina in 2020 and, 33 days later, proceeded to beat an open field of 16 in her second start when winning the Group 1 Polla de Potrancas in 2020. The media called her performance “one of the most spectacular demonstrations that memory remembers,” and “unthinkable.”
Nine months later, in July of '21, she made her U.S. debut and finished fourth in the Del Mar's Rancho Bernardo (G3) and third in the Chillingworth (G3) at Santa Anita for Richard Mandella. After nine months off, she returned to the races for Todd Pletcher, winning against allowance company at Saratoga and finishing second against allowance company in October at Keeneland.
“She's doing really well,” Pletcher said, “and I think her style is one that should suit the Gulfstream course well.”
Luis Saez is named to ride Scotish Star for La Providencia LLC and LNJ Foxwoods.
Stolen Holiday, trained by Shug McGaughey, was second over Gulfstream's turf course in April in the Sand Springs. The 5-year-old mare went on to win the Eatontown (G3) at Monmouth in June before finishing fifth Nov. 5 in the Fall Harvest at Keeneland. Junior Alvarado will ride.
Bay Storm, a daughter of Kantharos, brought $400,000 as a 2-year-old. The 4-year-old has been incredibly consistent, finishing first or second in eight of 10 starts with one third. Trained by Jonathan Thomas, she comes into the Suwannee River off a second-place finish in the Mint Ladies Sprint Stakes (G3) at Kentucky Downs in September. The winner of that race, Campanelle, finished seventh in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) under Frankie Dettori. This will be Bay Storm's first race farther than seven furlongs.
The Rampart has attracted some of the finest fillies and mares over the past five decades, including Letruska, Educated Risk, Awesome Maria, Banshee Breeze and Colonial Waters. The $125,000 event at a mile attracted a wide-open field of eight.
Graded-stakes placed Allworthy, a 4-year-old by Tonalist out of the unraced mare Traffic Blimp, has 15 starts at eight different tracks. She finished second last year in the Charles Town Oaks (G3) and fourth in the Monmouth Oaks (G3), but she enters the Rampart off a ninth-place finish Nov. 12 in the Bessarabian (G2) at Keeneland after a third-place finish in September in the Presque Isle Downs Masters (G2).
Trained Saffie Joseph Jr. said, “hopefully, she'll get a stakes win under her belt.”
Joseph will also saddle Music City Star, who he claimed Oct. 19 at Keeneland for owner Mark Cherry for $30,000. The 4-year-old mare was fifth in the Lady Tak at Churchill Downs and sixth in the Crestwood at Hawthorne earlier in the year.
The 3-year-old filly Colorful Mischief goes out for trainer Todd Pletcher. A $300,000 daughter of Into Mischief, Colorful Mischief broke her maiden in her second start at Churchill Downs in June and won an allowance race at Saratoga in August before running third in the Dogwood (G3) in September and seventh last time out in the Raven Run (G2) at Keeneland.
Rodney Lundock's homebred Maryquitecontrary has won four of five starts including the Azalea and Sheer Drama at Gulfstream. This will be the 3-year-old's first start at a distance farther than seven furlongs.
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