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‘We Have High Hopes For Him’: $900,000 Quality Road Colt Prime Factor Romps In Debut For Pletcher

WinStar Farm LLC and CHC Inc.'s Prime Factor appears ready for prime time following the Todd Pletcher's trainee's sparkling debut Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The 2-year-old son of Quality Road crossed the finish line under wraps while scoring by 8 ¾ lengths in the six-furlong maiden special weight race carded as Race 2 on a program that featured the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) and four other stakes.

Bred by Two Hearts Farm LLC and purchased for $900,000 from the Legacy Bloodstock consignment at the 2019 Keeneland September sale, Prime Factor broke alertly from the starting gate to sit alongside pacesetter Dr. Duke along the backstretch and around the far turn before assuming the lead on the turn into the homestretch. The Kentucky-bred colt quickly accelerated at the top of the stretch under mild encouragement from jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. before completing the final eighth of a mile under wraps.

“It was a very professional debut. He broke well and put himself in a good spot. It looked like he was taking Irad wherever he wanted him to go throughout the race,” Pletcher said. “He's been training exceptionally well. We were looking forward to a good debut. Honestly, he exceeded expectations.”

Prime Factor ($6.20), who ran six furlongs in 1:10.38, is out of the Bernardini mare Hailey Brae, a half-sister to Speightster.

“We'll talk to Elliott [Walden] and the guys at WinStar and CHC and come up with a game plan,” Pletcher said. “The good thing about this time of year is there's pretty good options all around. We have high hopes for him.”

Pletcher-trained Bracken, a debuting son of Speightster for Robert and Lawana Low, closed to finish second behind Prime Factor.

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Quality Road Firster Gives Family Another ‘TDN Rising Star’

WinStar Farm and CHC Inc.’s debuting Prime Factor (Quality Road), a $900,000 purchase out of the 2019 Keeneland September yearling sale–the joint-second priciest of 63 Quality Road yearlings to sell in 2019–was off as the 21-10 second choice and turned his first trip to the post into a one-horse affair en route to ‘TDN Rising Star’ honors.

Smoothy into stride, the bay sidled up alongside pacesetting Dr. Duke (Ghostzapper) as the top two pulled well clear of the peloton rounding the turn. Prime Factor eased to the front while racing well off the inside approaching the quarter pole, put several lengths on his rivals entering the final furlong, was taken well in hand at the sixteenth pole and jogged home to score by 8 3/4 lengths. Stablemate Bracken (Speightster), himself a $285,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling and the most expensive of 71 of his first-crop sire (by Speightstown)’s yearlings to sell last year, closed belatedly to complete the exacta.

“It was a very professional debut. He broke well and put himself in a good spot. It looked like he was taking Irad [Ortiz] wherever he wanted him to go throughout the race,” Pletcher said. “He’s been training exceptionally well. We were looking forward to a good debut. Honestly, he exceeded expectations.”

As for the future, the conditioner said, “We’ll talk to Elliott [Walden] and the guys at WinStar and CHC and come up with a game plan. The good thing about this time of year is there’s pretty good options all around. We have high hopes for him.”

Prime Factor is, in fact, out of a half-sister to fellow ‘Rising Stars’ Speightster and West Coast Swing (Gone West) as well as SW Paiota Falls (Kris S.). Second dam Dance Swiftly is a full-sister to Canadian Horse of the Year and U.S. Eclipse Award winner Dance Smartly. Haylie Brae is the dam of the yearling colt Sea Lane (Liam’s Map) and a weanling colt by Distorted Humor.

2nd-Gulfstream, $40,000, Msw, 12-12, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.38, ft, 8 3/4 lengths.
PRIME FACTOR, c, 2, by Quality Road
1st Dam: Haylie Brae, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Dance Swiftly, by Danzig
3rd Dam: Classy ‘n Smart, by Smarten
Sales history: $900,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $24,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
O-CHC Inc & WinStar Farm LLC; B-Two Hearts Farm LLC (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher.

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Weekend Lineup: Gulfstream Swings Into Graded Stakes Action

The Gulfstream Park championship meet, whose first Saturday featured the popular Claiming Crown races on Dec. 5, kicks into high gear this weekend with an 11-race Saturday program with five stakes, four of them graded, that could showcase horses competing in the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track's Jan. 23 Pegasus World Cup and World Cup Turf.

Gulfstream is the only track offering American graded stakes this weekend, with all of their races available on TVG and your favorite ADW streaming service. Gulfstream's first post is 12:05 p.m., and remember that the track is sticking to estimated post times this meet whenever possible.

Here's a brief look at the four graded stakes at Gulfstream on Saturday (all times Eastern).

1:35 p.m. – $100,000 G3 Rampart

Rohan Chrichton, who won the training title at the recently concluded Gulfstream Park West meet, sends out Bajan Girl off two wide-margin victories at GP West in allowance/optional claiming company – both at one mile, the distance of the Rampart. Bajan Girl's last foray on the Gulfstream Park main track was in March when the Speightstown filly ran fourth behind Swiss Skydiver in the G2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. Letruska, winner of the G3 Shuvee at Saratoga in August, won the Copa Invitacional del Caribe Stakes for her trainer, Fausto Gutierrez, last December at Gulfstream, after arriving from her home base in Mexico City, Mexico.

https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/GP121220USA4-EQB.html

2:38 p.m. – Sugar Swirl G3

Cinnabunny will be making her first start for Brad Cox in this six-furlong test for fillies and mares, 3 and up, and that's enough to suggest taking a serious look at this daughter of Golden Lad who is coming off a five-length allowance/optional claiming victory at Parx when trained by Kathleen DeMasi. Irad Ortiz Jr. will be aboard. Golden Ami won her debut at Gulfstream in March for trainer Josie Carroll, then won her only start at Woodbine in Canada on Nov. 14. Red-hot Tyler Gaffalione rides. Lady's Island is always tough at Gulfstream, showing seven wins in 11 starts, and she demolished the field in this race last year, winning by 6 3/4 lengths.

https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/GP121220USA6-EQB.html

4:09 p.m. – Harlan's Holiday G3

Most of the runners in this seven-horse field are known quantities in stakes races – including 2019 Harlan's Holiday runner-up Phat Man, 2019 G2 Jim Dandy winner Tax and 2019 G1 Pennsylvania Derby winner Math Wizard. The most intriguing entrant might be the Tapit colt Tatweej from the Todd Pletcher barn. Winner of three of four starts at Gulfstream up to one mile, Tatweej will be making his stakes debut and trying two turns for the first time. The Harlan's Holiday winner could have his trainer thinking Pegasus World Cup.

https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/GP121220USA9-EQB.html

4:40 p.m. – Ft. Lauderdale G2

Halladay is unbeaten in three starts over the Hallandale lawn for Todd Pletcher and figures to be out winging under Luis Saez in this 1 1/8-mile contest as he was in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile last out when leading till inside the furlong pole. Factor This had a troubled trip in that same Breeders' Cup race and will be making his local debut for Brad Cox. Chad Brown and Irad Ortiz Jr. could have a say in the outcome with Delaware, as the son of Frankel looks for his first U.S. win in his fifth start. The Group 3 winner in France is coming off his strongest performance with a close third to Therapist in the Artie Schiller at Aqueduct Nov. 14.

https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/GP121220USA10-EQB.html

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Gulfstream: With Five Stakes Races, Saturday’s Card Features $650,000 Rainbow 6 Guarantee

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $650,000 Saturday at Gulfstream Park, where an 11-race program with five stakes, four graded, will get under way at 12:05 p.m.

The popular multi-race wager went unsolved for the eighth day of the Championship Meet Friday, when multiple tickets with all six winners were each worth $3,359.54.

The jackpot pool is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

Saturday's Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 6-11, including the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2), a key prep for the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Jan. 23, and three other stakes.

The Fort Lauderdale, a 1 1/8-mile turf stakes for 3-year-olds and up carded as Race 10, drew a field of 10, including Brad Cox-trained Factor This, who had won four graded-stakes this year before finishing eighth in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) at Keeneland last time out. Todd Pletcher-trained Halladay captured the Fourstardave (G1) at Saratoga before finishing sixth in the Breeders' Cup Mile.

The $100,000 Harlan's Holiday (G3), a 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-olds and up, is carded as Race 9. Pletcher-trained Tatweej, a late-developing $2.5 million colt who has three straight dominating victories at Gulfstream, is scheduled to make his stakes debut in the Harlan's Holiday, which also attracted claimer-turned-Grade 1 winner Math Wizard and 2019 runner-up Phat Man.

The Rainbow 6 sequence will be kicked off by the $100,000 Sugar Swirl (G3) in Race 5. Jose Carroll-trained Golden Ami, who has turned in a pair of impressive victories in his two career starts, is rated as the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares. Cinnabunny is scheduled to make her stakes debut and first start for Cox in the Sugar Swirl.

The Sugar Swirl will be followed by a well-stocked maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds, including sons of Constitution, Medaglia d'Oro, Candy Ride, Uncle Mo, Malibu Moon and Street Sense. In Race 8, Roger Attfield-trained Art of Almost, runner-up in the Maple Leaf (G3) at Woodbine last time out will head a well-balanced field of eight fillies and mares in the $75,000 My Charmer at 1 1/16 miles on turf. The Rainbow 6 sequence will conclude with a 1 1/16-mile turf race for 2-year-old $50,000 maiden claimers.

Who's Hot: In addition to Tyler Gaffalione's four-win afternoon, jockey Paco Lopez doubled Friday aboard Reservenotattained ($4) in Race 2 and Wicked Mercury ($8.80) in Race 7 … SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Golconda Stables, Siena Farm and Robert Masterson's Tarantino ($11.80), a $610,000 yearling making his third career start and first on the East Coast, collared pacesetting longshot Halcyon Digest at the top of the stretch and went to win Race 9, a one-mile optional claiming allowance for 2-year-olds. The winning time was 1:35.62 over a firm turf course.

Rainbow 6 Pool Guarantee: $650,000

Super Hi-5 Carryover: $3,996.59

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