Donegal Racing's Shamrocket made a victorious debut on dirt Saturday at Gulfstream Park after 21 turf starts, rallying late to capture the $75,000 Sunshine Classic, a 1 1/8-mile race for older Florida-breds.
The Sunshine Classic co-headlined Saturday's program with the $75,000 Sunshine Sprint, a six-furlong race for older Florida-breds.
Shamrocket, a winner of one turf stakes with more than $400,000 in earnings, was sent to post as the 6-5 favorite in a field of seven.
“He's always trained well on it, and we were kind of looking for the right time to give it a try. I talked to [stable operator] Jerry Crawford and decided to go ahead and give it a try,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “It could open up some options for him. I think he's a horse that might even handle some of these longer dirt races, marathon-type dirt races, down the road. I'm happy for the horse and proud of him for getting the job done.
Shamrocket had to work hard to prevail by a half-length over gutsy Sir Ollie, who had come under pressure throughout the Sunshine Classic. The Pletcher trainee settled in fourth along the backstretch, where a headstrong Big Venezuela dragged jockey Luis Saez to a brief lead before early pacesetter Sir Ollie regained the lead on the turn under Junior Alvarado, only to be headed by a three-wide Nacho Papa on the turn into the stretch. Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano got Shamrocket rolling on the turn and swung the 5-year-old son of Tonalist four-wide for the stretch run. Sir Ollie kicked on in the stretch but fell just shy of holding off the steady stretch bid by the favorite.
“I had a perfect trip. I didn't want to be too far back because he's the one-run type of horse. I didn't want him to think too much and didn't want him to get too much dirt in his face or get bounced around in his first race on dirt,” Castellano said. “I put him and the game and took it from there. I give all the credit to Todd Pletcher.”
Shamrocket, who finished second in the 2021 Sunshine Turf, ran 1 1/8-miles in 1:52.26 after sitting off fractions of 24.81 and 49.71 seconds for the first half-mile.
“I was a little concerned. There wasn't much pace on, and he wants to come from off of it,” Pletcher said. “Javier did a good job of not taking him out of his running style but tried to keep him close enough to be in striking distance.”
Sir Ollie held second following a game performance, 1 ½ lengths ahead of Nacho Papa.
Gatsby broke through with his first stakes victory Saturday at Gulfstream Park, capturing the $75,000 Sunshine Sprint by 1 ¼ lengths following a race-long duel with favored Cool Quest.
The Arindel homebred pressed Cool Quest past fractions of 21.75 and 44.23 seconds for the first half-mile of the six-furlong sprint for older Florida-breds, before edging away in the stretch to complete the the distance in 1:09.11.
Gatsby, the 2-1 second betting choice, was well-respected by the bettors following a gritty second-place finish to Grade 1 winner Drain the Clock in a Dec. 10 Gulfstream allowance, in which he pressed the pace before falling a half-length short of victory.
“That was kind of a preparation for this race. Having Drain the Clock in that race was really tough,” trainer Carlos David said. “When he ran a fast race like that, we knew he'd be competitive in this race.”
Leading jockey Luis Saez rode Gatsby to victory. Cool Quest finished second under Julien Leparoux, 3 ¼ lengths ahead of Pudding and jockey Javier Castellano.
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