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Edwin Gonzalez Back At Full Strength At Gulfstream Park

Jockey Edwin Gonzalez made it clear that he has made it all the way back from a midsummer injury Thursday at Gulfstream Park, riding the winners of four races, including impressive maiden winner Palmach, on an eight-race card.

The 29-year-old journeyman, who had become an immediate success while riding at Gulfstream Park full time during the Spring/Summer Meet for the first time, was sidelined for seven weeks with a hairline fracture in his right leg that was sustained in a racing mishap July 3. He won three races on his first day back in action Aug. 21, but Gonzalez didn't continue to quite maintain the strike rate that he had enjoyed prior to his injury.

“I'm feeling great. I had 50 days out – that's a long time for me,” said Gonzalez, who won with his last mount Sunday and his first three mounts Thursday. “I'm feeling strong. I kept saying, 'Keep working hard, and everyone will be happy and I'll keep winning races.'”

D J Stable's Palmach bucked the trend on Gulfstream's Tapeta track while capturing the featured $60,000 maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies in Race 4. The Mark Casse-trained daughter of Violence broke alertly to assume an early lead that she would never relinquish on her way to a four-length victory, becoming only the second horse to win from gate to wire in the first 20 races on the newly installed all-weather surface.

“She likes the Tapeta. The first time she was a little green and the turf was a little soft because it was raining that day,” said Gonzalez, who finished fifth aboard Palmach in her Sept. 10 debut over a good turf course. “Today, she loved the Tapeta.”

Although she was the first front-running winner since Wow Tapit wired the field in only the second race run on Tapeta, Palmach did follow an early trend on the all-weather surface, becoming the 12th favorite to come through for their backers. Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Beachnut Trophy, Ken and Sarah Ramsey's homebred daughter of Real Solution, closed from far back to finish second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Todd Pletcher-trained Five Prizes, a daughter of Bernardini who

Palmach, the 9-5 favorite, gave Gonzalez his second of four victories Thursday, when he connected aboard World Gone Wild ($5) in Race 2, Bramble Berry ($8) in Race 5 and Souper All Star ($14.80) through a disqualification in Race 8. Souper All Star was Gonzalez's seventh win from his last 12 mounts.

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Legendary Handicapper, Turf Writer Steve Crist Joins Writers’ Room

Revolutionary handicapper and racing writer Steve Crist has been out of a public eye after retiring five years ago, but still has as much passion and enthusiasm for racing as he's ever had, and Wednesday morning, he joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland for an expansive discussion on a variety of industry issues. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Crist discussed his increasing involvement in the game from an ownership standpoint, racing's progress on detecting and punishing cheaters, the Bob Baffert saga of 2021 and much more.

Asked for his reaction to the FBI indictments of Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro and the potential enactment of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, Crist said, “The Servis/Navarro stuff, I think every horseplayer knew that these guys were cheating. This was not exactly something you were shocked to learn; you knew what these guys were doing, with the routine form reversals and the accompanying floods of money on their horses. I'm delighted that racing finally went after actual cheaters, instead of continuing to dither about Lasix and accusing every prominent trainer who wins at 25% of cheating. These are two different things, and I hate to see racing having wasted so much time on issues like Lasix instead of going after real cheaters.”

Crist mainly spent his career as a horseplayer and writer, but now owns a handful of horses, and spoke about how that's changed his perspective on the game.

“I've got to say, it's been more fun than I expected,” he said. “It really is. There's a different kind of enjoyment and a different kind of rooting that goes on when it's your horses, I've thoroughly enjoyed that part of it. But I've also had my eyes even more opened to the fact that it's so difficult for people to stay in this game now. Unless you're a plutocrat or a super trainer, this industry had become very, very hard to make a living in. Our trainer, Phil Gleaves, retired at the end of the Saratoga meeting, in part because it's just so hard to make a go of it as a small stable these days. Hiring help, dealing with workman's comp, and all these other issues have made it really hard for smaller trainers to stay in business. That's not a healthy thing long term for the game. And I don't think we want to end up with 10 super stables and no small outfits in American racing. That's not going to be good.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by West Point Thoroughbreds, Legacy Bloodstock and Woodford Thoroughbreds, Joe Bianca and Bill Finley broke down the ramifications of Bob Baffert's loss in court Tuesday, reacted to the strong handle numbers thus far for 2021 and applauded Gulfstream for its suspensions of trainers for clenbuterol use. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version of find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Trio Of Turf Races Highlight Friday’s Stronach 5 Wager

Friday's Stronach 5 will feature three turf races, two races from both Santa Anita Park and Laurel Park, and a low 12-percent takeout.

The popular wager continues to offer a strong return on investment. Despite not having a winner paying more than $9.60 last week, there were 40 winning tickets each worth $1,525.70.

Laurel's eighth race, an allowance optional claimer at 5 ½ furlongs on the turf for fillies and mares, is a wide-open event with a tepid choice in Roselba, who ships in from Monmouth Park after winning the restricted Pinot Grigio Handicap last out. Flyingontheground finished sixth last time out over a 'good' turf course at Delaware but was second July 4 at Pimlico over firm turf in the Sensible Lady Turf Dash for trainer Elizabeth Merryman. Trainer Michael Trombetta sends out Ellanation, winner over the summer of the Jameela at Pimlico.

Gulfstream's eighth race, the second leg of the sequence, is $25,000 allowance optional claimer at 6 ½ furlongs for 3-year-olds and up. The 5-2 favorite is Reservenotattained, claimed last time out by trainer Juan Avila in the geldings first start since March. The son of Shanghai Bobby finished second against similar competition off the layoff. Front Loaded leaves from the rail with jockey Chantal Sutherland after finishing by a neck last out for $35,000. Mister Luigi looks for his second consecutive victory for trainer Antonio Sano after shipping back from Saratoga.

It's back to Laurel for the third leg, a maiden special weight event at 1 1/16 miles on the turf for 2-year-olds. The Man to See stretches out and gets blinkers for Lacey Gaudet after finishing second over the turf in his debut at five furlongs, while Consultant goes out second time for Trombetta after a second-place finish on the turf at a mile. Trainer Shug McGaughey ships in Candy Cool, a son of Candy Ride after two unspectacular races on the dirt. Shake Em Loose, a son of Shakin It Up, makes his turf debut after a third-place finish last out at a mile.

The Stronach 5 heads to Santa Anita for the final two legs of the Stronach 5. First, it's Santa Anita's third race, a mile turf event for 3-year-olds and up. Liar Liar takes a drop in company and draws the rail for trainer Peter Miller and jockey Flavien Prat. The 4-year-old has finished first, second or third in nine of 14 turf trips. Best Chance goes out second time off a layoff for John Sadler and jockey Joe Bravo. Bee Catcher makes his Santa Anita debut after being claimed last out by Dan Blacker from a Gulfstream Park claiming event. Trainer Carlos David claimed the son of English Channel from his previous start from Graham Motion. Active Account also goes out for a new barn after a $16,000 claim by trainer Doug O'Neill.

Santa Anita's fourth race, a mile claiming event on the main track for fillies and mares, concludes the Stronach 5. The 10-horse field has a tepid 7-2 choice Chollima, who has finished first or second in nine of her 12 career starts. Bold Article takes a dip in claiming price while Lady O'Prado goes for her second consecutive win after a 9 ¾ length victory at Del Mar Sept. 2. They all may well be chasing Destiny's Journey, who has shown a fondness to be on or close to the pace in many of her recent starts.

Friday's races and sequence

Leg One –Laurel Race 8: (10 entries, 5 ½ furlongs turf) 4 :18 ET, 1:18 PT
Leg Two –Gulfstream Race 8: (7 entries, 6 ½ furlongs) 4:40 ET, 1:40 PT
Leg Three –Laurel Race 9: (14 entries,1 1/16-mile turf) 4:53 ET, 1:53PT
Leg Four –Santa Anita Race 3: (9 entries, 1 mile turf) 5:05 ET, 2:05 PT
Leg Five –Santa Anita Race 4: (10 entries, 1 mile) 5:35 ET, 5:35 PT

Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

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Keeping Track Of Tapeta Trends At Gulfstream Park

The introduction of racing on Tapeta has presented bettors with new handicapping challenges and, hopefully, an all-weather path to betting riches at Gulfstream Park.

With four racing days in the books since races have been run over the Tapeta surface, it will come as a surprise to no one that horses with experience on turf and with turf pedigrees have been dominant in the vast majority of the 18 races conducted on the new all-weather track that was constructed on the former outer turf course.

How-the-race-was-won stats may be more relevant to handicappers, considering that there has been only one front-running winner thus far. Eleven winners rallied from mid-pack or farther back to win, while six horses prevailed after pressing or stalking the pace.

Amador Sanchez-trained Wow Tapit, who set the pace on his way to capturing a 5 ½-furlong maiden claiming race on Day 1, is also one of only two horses that won on Tapeta with no previous experience on turf (not counting first-time starter Cosmo Paul, who won Sunday's Race 3). Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Strategy Queen graduated a few races later Thursday in a maiden special weight race on Tapeta after running twice on dirt. With a Tapeta-winning sister and a sire who was a multiple winner on all-weather, the daughter of Fed Biz's pedigree suggested that she would relish the going. Strategy Queen is one of four Tapeta winners that had raced on dirt in their previous starts.

Perhaps the most eye-opening development of the Tapeta Era thus far? The first 17 winners on Tapeta were saddled by 17 different trainers before Mark Casse doubled up in Sunday's last race with All Quality, who was racing on an all-weather track for the first time since winning her debut on Woodbine's all-weather track in 2019.

Ron Spatz saddled a veteran turf allowance runner Light Fury for an impressive mile-and-70-yard starter allowance score with his only Tapeta starter thus far.

“It reminds me of the old Calder. You run the same kind of normal fractions down the backside. The further you go, you lose a second. That's the way Calder always was,” Spatz said. “As long as they come back fine, that's great with me.”

Jockeys have done a pretty good job of spreading the wealth on Tapeta as well. Samy Camacho and Edwin Gonzalez lead all jockeys with three wins each. Jesus Rios and Miguel Vasquez each have two wins.

“It's not the same, but Tapeta is a lot like turf. I like the track. You don't have to be on the lead on this track. You can wait for the stretch,” said Camacho, who hadn't ridden in a race on Tapeta during his career prior to Thursday. “I think Gulfstream made a good change to have turf, Tapeta and dirt.”

The temptation to arbitrarily throw out the favorite may be eased somewhat by the fact that 11 favorites have visited the winner's circle after victories on Tapeta for a 60-percent strike rate.

Thursday's Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Guaranteed at $450,000

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $450,000 Thursday at Gulfstream Park, where the popular multi-race wager went unsolved Sunday for the 14th racing day since a Sept. 10 mandatory payout produced multiple payoffs of $313,299.84

The Rainbow 6 jackpot is 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.

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