Sent off a lukewarm favorite at 5-2, Chiefswood Stable's homebred 3-year-old filly WASKESIU (f, 3, American Pharoah–Finn's Girl, by Bernardini) sat a perfect ground-saving trip just behind the speed, tipped out in the lane and finished determinedly for a maiden stakes success in Saturday's GIII Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs. Winner of her turf debut at Aqeuduct Nov. 18 and a slow-starting third in the Jan. 6 Ginger Brew S., the Ontario-bred took advantage of her low draw in gate four to tuck in at the fence to take the shortest way around the Olsdmar oval as triple-digit longshot A Primera Vista (Competitive Edge) cut out the running through fractions of :23.18 and :47.92. Waskesiu traveled strongly around the turn and was right on the back of the leaders nearing the stretch, just waiting for the gaps to appear. Pointed at daylight with about a furlong and a half to run, Waskesiu knuckled down to deliver her challenge and was along in the final few strides to become a 44th worldwide stakes winner and 26th graded/group winner for American Pharoah. The final time for the mile and a sixteenth was 1:42.04. O/B-Chiefswood Stables Limited (ON); T-Bill Mott.
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Overnight purses for the upcoming Spring/Summer Meet at Gulfstream Park will be increased in all categories from open handicaps to $6,250 claiming races with conditions.
Open handicap purses will rise from $60,000 last season to $74,000; $6,250 claiming races with conditions will jump from $17,000 to $20,000; open allowances will be $10,000 higher than 2023 levels, ranging from $61,000 to $63,000; entry-level allowances for Florida-breds will increase from $43,000 to $48,000; maiden special weight races will increase by $10,000 to $60,000; maiden special weight races for Florida-breds will go up from $40,000 to $48,000; maiden races for $12,500 claimers will get a boost of $6,000 to $25,000; starter allowance purses will increase from $3,000 to $9,000 (from $25,000 to $49,000); and the purse for a $50,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds will jump by $9,000 to $44,000.
“With the increased purses, grass racing, and our workers compensation program, Gulfstream is now the summer place to be,” said Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (FTHA) President Joe Orseno. “We are able to offer better purses and we hope this will encourage trainers and owners to keep horses at Gulfstream Park through the non-championship meet. A big thank you to 1/ST management and the FTHA purse committee for negotiating this competitive purse structure.”
Gulfstream will race four days a week from April to June and three days a week from July to November with turf racing throughout the spring and summer.
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2nd-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1mT, 12:39 p.m. ET.
SF Racing's MONT SAINT MICHEL (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) makes her inaugural voyage for Brendan Walsh after she started her work regimen at Turfway in early December and then moved to Palm Meadows. The homebred is out of SP Black Dahlia (GB) (Dansili {GB}), who is also responsible for third place GI Breeders' Cup Mile runner Lope Y Fernandez (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}).
Also making the post is Alpha Delta homebred Highland Light (Uncle Mo) for trainer Chad Brown. The dark bay's dam GSW Summer Raven (Summer Squall) produced GIII Holy Bull S. champ Winslow Homer (Unbridled's Song) and his full-brother GSW Misconnect. Her most successful offspring is MGSW/MGISP Lewis Bay (Berandini), who earned over $1.1 million on the racetrack. TJCIS PPS
9th-GP, $91K, OC25k/N1X, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 4:07 p.m. ET.
Just before the Sunday finale in Hallandale, Paramount Prince (Society's Chairman) returns to the races after he took home last year's King's Plate S. at Woodbine. Trained by Mark Casse, the Sovereign 3-year-old male nominee is out of a stakes-placed dam who counts U.S. based sire Army Mule as a half-brother. TJCIS PPS
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