Lady Speightspeare, Gam’s Mission Headline Friday’s Valley View

Charles Fipke's undefeated Lady Speightspeare, scratched at the gate for the Oct. 16 Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Dixiana, headlines an overflow field of 14 3-year-old fillies plus two also-eligibles entered Sunday for Friday's 31st running of the Grade 3 Rubicon Valley View at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

Slated to be run at 1 1/16 miles on the turf, the Rubicon Valley View will go as the ninth race on Friday afternoon's 10-race program with a 5:16 p.m. ET post time. First post Friday is 1 p.m.

Trained by Roger Attfield, Lady Speightspeare has won all three of her starts highlighted by a victory in last year's Grade 1 Natalma at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Emma-Jayne Wilson, who has been aboard for all of Lady Speightspeare's starts, will ride Friday and break from post 11.

The other graded stakes winner in the field is Lazy F Ranch's homebred Gam's Mission.

Trained by Cherie DeVaux, Gam's Mission returns to the races for the first time since finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational in August at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Prior to that, Gam's Mission was fourth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., after winning the Grade 3 Regret at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Adam Beschizza will have the mount Friday and break from post 14.

Six other grass stakes winners in the field are Godolphin's Adventuring (Dueling Grounds Oaks), BBN Racing's Core Values (Preview Dueling Grounds Derby), Peachtree Stable's Saranya (Curtis Sampson Oaks), G. Watts Humphrey Jr.'s Navratilova (Tepin), EuroLindy Syndicate's Queenship (IRE) (Navigation Stakes in Ireland) and Terry Hamilton, Gary Barber, and trainer Brian Lynch's three-time stakes winner Tobys Heart.

Also entered is Phoenix Thoroughbred III's Crazy Beautiful, a three-time graded stakes winner on dirt who won going a mile on the grass in her racing debut last year at 2 for trainer Kenny McPeek.

The field for the Rubicon Valley View, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Core Values (Rafael Bejarano, 118 pounds), Saranya (Joe Talamo, 118), Crazy Beautiful (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118), Tobys Heart (Joel Rosario, 118), Navratilova (Colby Hernandez, 118), Oliviaofthedesert (Corey Lanerie, 118), Adventuring (Florent Geroux, 118), Breaker of Chains (Tyler Gaffalione, 118), Arm Candy (Ricardo Santana Jr., 118), Oyster Box (James Graham, 118), Lady Speightspeare (Wilson, 118), Queenship (IRE) (Julien Leparoux, 118), Flown (Jose Ortiz, 118), Gam's Mission (Beschizza, 118). Also eligibles: Princess Theorem (Jose Ortiz, 118), Wait for Nairobi (Edgar Morales, 118).

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Neptune’s Storm Gets Narrow Victory In Lure Stakes At Santa Anita

Heavily favored Neptune's Storm ran to the betting in Saturday's $70,000 Lure Stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., as the 5-year-old Stormy Atlantic gelding accelerated nicely off the turn for home en route to a methodical neck victory under Flavien Prat. Trained by Peter Miller, Neptune's Storm got one mile on turf in 1:35.49.

A close second to pacesetter Lambeau to the far turn, Neptune's Storm drew alongside mid-way around the far turn, and with three-sixteenths of a mile to run, there was little doubt he'd deliver the mail, although Prat stayed busy late to keep him focused as he kept runner-up Order and Law at bay close to home.

“We had a good trip,” said Prat, who along with Miller registered his second win on the day. “He was traveling well and when I asked him turning for home, he kicked on well. When he went by that horse (Lambeau), he messed around a bit. He's an old man, he knows what he's doing.”

Most recently ninth against much tougher competition going a mile and one quarter on turf in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Classic here on Oct. 2, Neptune's Storm was off at 1-2 in a field of six 3-year-olds and up and paid $3.00, $2.60, and $2.20.

“I think Flavien did a great job getting him out in the clear,” said Miller. “When Edwin (Maldonado, aboard Lambeau) slowed it down…, I thought well, we have no excuses. He tried to pull himself up a little bit the last eighth of a mile, but Flavien stayed busy enough and we got it done.”

Owned by CYBT, Saul Gervitz, Lynn Gitomer, Mike Goetz, Michael Nentwig, and Daniel Weiner, Neptune's Storm also relished a return to a flat mile as he registered his sixth win from 12 tries at the distance. With the winner's share of $44,880, Neptune's Storm, a two-time graded stakes winner, increased his earnings to $981,865.

Ridden by Abel Cedillo, Order and Law rallied from off the pace to make it close late as he finished three-quarters of a length in front of Lambeau. Off at 10-1, he paid $6.20 and $4.00.

Lambeau finished a length clear of second choice Majestic Eagle and paid $5.00 to show while off at 12-1.

Fractions on the race were :23.12, :47.66, 1:12.17, and 1:23.80.

Prat would go to notch his third win of the day in the eighth race aboard the Richard Baltas-trained Barbwire and appeared poised to get his fourth win of the afternoon aboard early favorite Urban in the ninth and final race.

First post time for a nine-race card on Sunday is at 1 p.m.

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Girolamo’s Attack Victorious In Miami Beach Handicap At Gulfstream

John Fanelli, LC Racing, and Paul Braverman's Girolamo's Attack capped a good day for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. while registering an upset victory in Saturday's $60,000 Miami Beach Handicap at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Miami Beach, a mile overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and up, closed out the stakes action on Saturday's 10-race program that also featured the $60,000 Journeyman Stud Juvenile, a mile-and-70-yard race for Florida-bred 2-year-olds on Tapeta, and the $60,000 Khozan Juvenile Fillies Sprint, a six-furlong stakes for Florida-bred 2-year-old fillies.

A couple of hours after Joseph was represented in the Belmont Park winner's circle by Shifty She following her victory in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel at the Elmont, N.Y., track, Girolamo pulled off an upset in the Miami Beach that caught his trainer by surprise.

“I'm surprised to be honest with you,” Joseph said. “I know he wants to do this (one-turn mile), his race at Belmont (one-turn 1 1/16-mile) was really good. He doesn't want seven-eighths. Today was a tough race. I didn't think he could win. I thought if he ran his best race, he could be pretty close. Then, he acted up in the race, and I said 'Aww, everything is done.'”

A showdown between graded-stakes winners Eye of a Jedi and King Guillermo had been expected by the bettors but it never developed between the two 5-2 betting chances. King Guillermo broke alertly to press the pace set by Quenane but weakened on the turn into the homestretch, while Eye of a Jedi raced in traffic and was never a factor.

Girolamo's Attack, who finished off the board in two sprints at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in his last two starts, stalked the pace while racing three-wide into the stretch before taking command in mid-stretch. Glory of Florida, a 20-1 long shot ridden by Miguel Vasquez, made a serious late bid, but Girolamo's Attack responded to the urging from Edgard Zayas to prevail by three-quarters of a length.

“At the quarter-pole, it looked like he was going to win pretty easy, but at the sixteenth-pole, it looked like he was going to get beat,” Joseph said. “That horse was coming at him, but that was where Edgard made the difference. He got him to engage and find a little bit more.”

Girolamo's Attack ran a mile in 1:35.95 in his return to Gulfstream, where he last won an optional claiming allowance before shipping to New York.

Glory of Florida finished 3 ¼ lengths clear of third-place finisher Pro Quality. King Guillermo finished fourth. Eye of a Jedi finished seventh.

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Peter D’s Journeyman Stud Juvenile Victory Gives Trainer Blanco First Stakes Win

Peter D provided Andry Blanco the first stakes win of his brief training career in Saturday's $60,000 Journeyman Stud Juvenile, scoring a 1 ½-length length victory over the Tapeta racing surface at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Journeyman Stud Juvenile, a mile-and-70-yard stakes for Florida-bred 2-year-olds on Tapeta, kicked off the stakes action on Saturday's 10-race program that also featured the $60,000 Khozan Juvenile Fillies Sprint, a six-furlong stakes for Florida-bred 2-year-old fillies, and the $60,000 Miami Beach, a mile overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and up.

Peter D, a son of He's Had Enough who is also owned by Blanco, saved ground into the stretch before overtaking pacesetter Mr. Rum Runner and drawing away to a comfortable victory in his first race around two turns and over an all-weather surface.

“A friend of mine offered him to me. The horse breezed pretty well over the Tapeta at OBS. He showed me the horse and I liked him and put an offer in and bought him,” Blanco said.

Peter D ($11) won at first asking in a $25,000 maiden claiming race over Delaware Park's main track Aug. 26, before finishing an even-fifth in the five-furlong Hollywood Beach on turf at Gulfstream last time out. The Florida-bred gelding ran a mile and 70 yards in 1:44.67 under Leonel Reyes to break through with a stakes victory Saturday. Mr. Rum Runner, a maiden with two in-the-money finishes going into his first race on Tapeta, held second, 2 ½ lengths ahead of C My Meister, the 2-1 favorite in a field of eight.

Peter D was Blanco's fourth winner from the 40 starters he has saddled since launching his training career last year.

The 40-year-old Blanco arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela in 2003. He rode 49 winners from 381 mounts during a career that included a seven-year break between 2005 and 2013.

“I've been breaking babies at OBS and I've been pinhooking. I'm still doing it,” said Blanco, who is currently training a stable of four. “I gallop. I break my horses. I do everything with the horses.”

In the Khozan Juvenile Fillies Sprint, Palm Beach Racing Partnership's She's So Beautiful ($12.20) wore down favored Sea Art with a determined stretch drive to prevail by a neck.

The Carlos David-trained daughter of Air Force Blue, who had won two of four starts going into Saturday's race, stalked the pace while racing three-wide before responding to Samy Camacho's urging in the stretch to win her stakes debut. She's So Beautiful ran seven furlongs in 1:25.28.

Sea Art held second under Emisael Jaramillo, a neck ahead of late-closing Demurely, who was ridden by Luca Panici.

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