Sweet Melania Regains Graded Stakes Winning Form In Suwannee River

The last time Sweet Melania had her picture taken was nearly 18 months ago at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. In the intervening months since then, the daughter of American Pharoah has had four in-the-money finishes, but no wins. In the Grade 3 Suwannee River Stakes, Sweet Melania stalked Shifty She throughout the first six furlongs and rallied in the stretch to get her first victory of 2021.

In a capacity field of 12, Sweet Melania broke well, with jockey John Velazquez putting her in second behind the favorite Shifty She, who took the lead from the break. Through early fractions of :25.91 for the first quarter and :48.4 for the half-mile, Shifty She had a comfortable three-length lead over Sweet Melania and In a Hurry down the backstretch. Velazquez moved his filly into contention as they entered the far turn, pulling within striking distance of Shifty She entering the stretch.

Down the Gulfstream straight, the two fillies dueled down the first half of the stretch, but Sweet Melania was able to get a head in front within the last furlong to hit the wire a half-length in front. Shifty She held off a rallying In a Hurry to finish second.

The final time for the one-mile G3 stakes was 1:36.40. Find this race's chart here.

Sweet Melania paid $15.60, $7.00, and $4.80. Shifty She paid $4.40 and $3.00. In a Hurry paid $4.20.

“She was super sharp coming into it. I loved the way she was training and she got a beautiful ride from Johnny. It was a good setup, and I thought she ran a good race. I felt like she had been rounding back into form and had some good performances and just didn't quite get there. She did seem super sharp, and we were hoping for an improved performance,” trainer Todd Pletcher said after the race.

“The first time I rode her she broke well and I was trying to get her back. She was kind of keen and the other horse next to me was pushing the whole way, and she never really got to relax. Last time she relaxed a little bit behind a couple horses in front, so I thought maybe she wants to do that and have a better finish. Although she just got beat last time out, she ran a really good race,” jockey John Velazquez said after the G3 Suwannee River.

“Today I was just trying to do the same thing, if I could get behind somebody. It was perfect. When I let her go, she responded right away. Obviously, the horse in front is a very tough horse to beat, but I didn't want to let it be too easy. I got to her at the three-eighths pole and I knew I probably had her but on the other hand, I don't want to let her go too easy and get caught by somebody else from behind. It feels good to win a race like this.”

Bred in Kentucky by St. Elias Stables, Sweet Melania is a 4-year-old filly out of the Discreet Cat mare Sweet N Discreet. She is owned by Robert and Lawana Low. Sweet Melania was consigned by Gainesway and purchased by West Bloodstock and her owners for $600,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. With her win in the G3 Suwannee River, the filly has one win in six starts in 2021 for a lifetime record of four wins in 15 starts and career earnings of $571,210.

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Connections Hope Saturday’s Suwannee River Propels Shifty She To Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf

As Pegasus World Cup Day looms on the horizon, owners Chris Pallas and Harvey Rothenberg and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. are hoping to navigate Saturday's $100,000 Suwannee River (G3) at Gulfstream Park as a way to the inaugural $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G3) next month.

The one-mile Suwannee River for fillies and mares 3 and up is among five stakes, four graded, worth $650,000 in purses on an 11-race program. It is one of two scheduled for the Gulfstream turf course along with the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2), a prep for the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1).

They are joined by the $150,000 Harlan's Holiday (G3) for 3-year-olds and up, a 1 1/16-mile prep for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1), $100,000 Sugar Swirl (G3) and $100,000 Rampart, each for fillies and mares 3 and older. First race post time is noon.

Shifty She became a graded-stakes winner in her most recent start, a front-running 1 ½-length triumph in the one-mile Noble Damsel (G3) Oct. 23 at Belmont Park. It followed a summer and fall away from her South Florida home that included a third in the Aug. 8 De La Rose at Saratoga and fourth in the Sept. 11 Ladies Turf (G3) at Kentucky Downs, beaten 1 ¾ lengths each time.

“She knocked heads at Saratoga and it was a good run. She looked like a winner and got a little tired. At Kentucky Downs it was the same thing, and then she obviously capped it off at Belmont,” Joseph said. “She'd been holding good company before that, and obviously that was a breakthrough race. She got a Grade 3 win under her belt, which is huge for her career after racing. It was important to get that and, hopefully, she can continue to build on that going forward.”

There was some consideration given to training Shifty She up to the Pegasus program, scheduled this year for Jan. 29, but the Suwannee River gives the 5-year-old Gone Astray mare six weeks to the 1 1/16-mile Filly & Mare Turf and comes at a distance where she is 3-for-6 lifetime.

“We had talked about going straight to the Pegasus race, but it was too much time. Having this race will do her better. Hopefully she can win this one and it can propel her to the Pegasus,” Joseph said. “We want to win this one just as much as we want to win the Pegasus. But if we could win this one and get to the Pegasus with a good chance, that would be great. To be on that kind of stage, those are the races you want to get to.”

Unraced at 2, Shifty She ran fourth in her career debut then rattled off three consecutive victories before going to the sidelines in December 2019. She didn't race again for 489 days until April 9 at Gulfstream with Joseph as her new trainer, setting the pace before settling for fourth – 1 ½ lengths behind stakes winner Kelsey's Cross – in a one-mile optional claiming allowance.

“She came to us and she was already proven,” Joseph said. “Her first race for us she dueled the whole way and she still ran fourth. She should have run last that day, as fast as they went on the grass. After the race I told the owner, 'I feel bad for the horse because she literally did not want to get beat off that kind of layoff.' She still tried her heart out and didn't get beat far. After that race I realized we had a really good horse on our hands as far as what she showed that day.”

Shifty She is part of Joseph's string at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, where she has breezed three times since her last race. This will be her first race since mid-June at Gulfstream, where she is 4-for-6 lifetime including back-to-back stakes wins in the Powder Break and 1 1/16-mile Ginger Punch this spring and summer.

“She loves it here,” Joseph said. “We knew we had a nice filly, but she just kept getting better and better. When we took her to Saratoga and she ran against those horses, then you knew that you had a filly that you could at least win a graded stake with. She keeps improving, and one thing about her is she always tries. She tries her best every time she runs. You can't teach that. Some horses have it and some don't. It's what separates the good ones from lesser company.”

Edwin Gonzalez is named to ride Shifty She back from Post 3 in a field of 12 at topweight of 125 pounds.

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Sanford Bacon and Patrick Biancone Racing's Kelsey's Cross will be seeking her first win in five starts since beating Shifty She in April. The 5-year-old mare, trained by Biancone, ran third in the 2019 Wonder Again (G3) at Belmont as a 2-year-old, won the 2020 Ginger Punch and ran third in the Hillsborough (G2) as a 3-year-old, and has placed in five other stakes. Sixth in a one-mile handicap Nov. 27 at Gulfstream, her only dirt start in 23 career races, she ran fifth in last year's Suwannee River behind multiple Grade 1 winner Starship Jubilee.

Other graded winners in the field are Alms, Keeper of Time and Sweet Melania. Godolphin's Alms, a homebred daughter of City Zip, won her first four career races including the six-furlong Matron (G3) at Belmont and one-mile Jimmy Durante (G3) at Del Mar in 2019 to cap her juvenile campaign. She is winless in her last four, spread out from February 2020 to Nov. 25 at Fair Grounds, where she was beaten a neck when second in the Joseph R. Peluso Memorial. During that time she also ran third by a head in the July 2020 Appalachian (G2), which preceded a 15-month layoff.

Robert and Lawana Low's Sweet Melania is also looking to regain her winning form. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the 4-year-old daughter of 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah won the 2019 Jessamine at 2 and the 2020 Wonder Again (G3) at 3 but has failed to find the winner's circle in seven subsequent tries. Most recently she ran second by less than a length in a 1 1/16-mile allowance Oct. 15 at Keeneland.

Bradley Thoroughbreds, Gary Finder, Tim Cambron and Anna Cambron's Keeper of Time is a bay filly seeking her first North American victory in her fourth start since coming to the U.S. following a victory in the One Thousand Guineas Trial (G3) in April at Leopardstown in her native Ireland.

“She beat a couple of really nice fillies. I think there were two future Grade 1 winners in the race, so she's got pretty good form,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “I like the way she ran last time at Belmont. She fits pretty good with the fillies here, so I'll be looking for a good run from her. We'll see how she takes to Gulfstream.”

Keeper of Time was third by three lengths in her U.S. debut, one-mile Riskaverse Aug. 26 at Saratoga. Following a puzzling effort in the Sept. 19 Pebbles, also at a mile, she returned to Belmont for the seven-furlong Glen Cove Oct. 15, closing from far back to run third, beaten 1 ½ lengths.

“She ran really well at Saratoga. It was a little disappointing her first run after that at Belmont. It was just a non-race, really. In her last start, she was very good again,” Walsh said. “This is a step up taking on older fillies … but she won a nice stake at Leopardstown in the spring and she's got plenty of talent and she's been working good, as well. Given the right trip, I can't see her being too far away.”

Tyler Gaffalione has the call on Keeper of Time from Post 4 at a low of 118 pounds.

Multiple stakes winners Classy Lady and Summering; La Babia, winner of the Sept. 25 George Rosenberger Memorial at Delaware Park in her most recent start; Dawn's Dancer, a last out allowance winner Oct. 24 at Keeneland; In a Hurry, fourth in the Noble Damsel; Princess Causeway and Quiet Company complete the field.

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Great Island Overcomes Stumble To Win Off-The-Turf Suwannee River   

Alpha Delta Stables LLC's Great Island overcame a bad stumble at the start to put her head in front at the finish of Saturday's $100,000 Suwannee River at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Making her first main-track start in the 1 1/8-mile stakes for older fillies and mares that was taken off the turf due to afternoon rain, the 4-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy collected her first career stakes victory while narrowly prevailing over pacesetter Drop a Hint on a sealed sloppy racetrack. The Chad Brown-trained filly provided jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. with his fourth of six victories on Saturday's 12-race program.

Sent to post as the 1-5 favorite in a field reduced to six by scratches, Great Island stumbled leaving the starting gate to drop several lengths behind the field heading into the first turn. Drop a Hint set fractions of 24.28 and 48.81 seconds without pressure for the first half mile and continued to show the way on the far turn after rebuffing a challenge by Loving Moment. Great Island steadily advanced along the backstretch and far turn to reach contention on the turn into the homestretch, but Drop a Hint wasn't showing any signs of weakening under Edgard Zayas.

“It's hard to overcome after that in the first part of the race,” Ortiz said. “She just stumbled, big-time, twice. After I said, 'Let me just see what she can do.' I just let her settle and by the backside she started moving really good so I didn't want to take too much hold of her after what happened in the beginning. I just let her roll and find her stride.”

It took the entire length of the stretch, but Ortiz succeeded in urging the Chad Brown trainee to victory by a head.

“By the quarter pole. I had to start working on her, but thank God, she kept coming. The trainer did a great job. She had a lot of stamina,” Ortiz said. “For a second, I thought she didn't want to go by the other horse probably, and she was looking at her, so I just tried to stay a little away in the stretch so she can feel free and go on and pass that horse. I got lucky I could go by.”

Great Island, who was placed third after finishing second in the Via Borghese at Gulfstream in her previous start, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:52.51.  Drop a Hint finished second, a half-length ahead of Mylastfirstkiss.

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Gulfstream Park: Saturday’s Rainbow 6 Has Jackpot Guarantee Of $950,000

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $950,000 Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Saturday's 12-race program, which will be highlighted by the $100,000 Suwannee River (G3) and the $100,000 Ladies Turf Sprint, will get underway at 12:10 p.m. ET.

The Rainbow 6 went unsolved for the eighth straight racing day Friday, when multiple tickets with all six winners were each worth $5,691.58.

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 7-12, kicked off by a six-furlong maiden special weight race for 3-year-old that attracted a full field of exciting prospects. Bears Watching, a half-brother to multiple Grade 1 winner and 2019 Fountain of Youth (G2) victor Code of Honor, is scheduled to make his debut for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey in the Race 7 Rainbow 6 opener. Rodrick Rodriguez-trained Campeador, a half-brother of 2020 Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) winner Mucho Gusto, is also set to launch his career in the race that will also feature the first starts for Todd Pletcher-trained Dupuis, a son of Distorted Humor who was purchased at auction for $700,000; Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Collaborate, a $600,000 son of Into Mischief; and Pletcher-trained Democracy, a $400,000 son of Quality Road.

Positively Awesome, the undefeated half-brother to multiple Grade 1 winner Jackson Bend, is slated to make a return from an 18-month layoff in Race 8, a six-furlong optional claiming allowance for older horses. The Ralph Nicks trainee, who won the first two races of his career at Gulfstream before going to the sideline,  will face five rivals, including Larry Rivelli-trained Tabulator, who won his only start at Gulfstream last year by more than eight lengths; Larry Bates-trained With Verve, who captured last season's Hutcheson; and Brittany Russell-trained Yodel E. A. Who, who was claimed for $62,500 out of second-place finish behind multiple graded stakes-winning Mischevious Alex last time out.

Race 9, a five-furlong optional claiming allowance on turf, attracted a full field of older horses, including six last-out winners.

Trainer Chad Brown is scheduled to unveil a pair of well-bred, well-connected 3-year-olds in Race 10, a mile maiden special weight event – Shadwell Stables' Mutasallem, a homebred son of Union Rags, and Juddmonte Farms Inc.'s Higher Quality, a $600,000 son of Tiznow. Pletcher-trained Tallis, a son of Uncle Mo, is also scheduled to debut.

The Ladies Turf Sprint, a five-furlong turf dash for older fillies and mares, will headline the Rainbow 6 sequence in Race 11. Lady's Island, who successfully defended her Sugar Swirl (G3) title over Gulfstream's main track last time out, is rated as the 5-2-morning-line favorite in a field of 8. The speedy 7-year-old mare is 1-for-4 on turf, that victory coming in her last turf appearance in October 2019.  Hear My Prayer and Victory Kingdom, who finished first and second, respectively, in the Jan. 1 Abundantia Stakes, are set to clash again Saturday.

The Rainbow sequence will conclude with a six-furlong dash with a full field of $6,250 claimers in Race 12, which many bettors will likely identify as a 'spread' race.

The $100,000 Suwannee River (G3), a 1 1/8-mile turf stakes for older fillies and mares, will be renewed leading up to the Rainbow 6 sequence in Race 6. Brown-trained Great Island is favored at 5-2 in the morning line. The 5-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy most recently finished second in the Via Borghese Stakes, won by Always Shopping, who came back to the La Prevoyante (G3) at Gulfstream. Brendan Walsh-trained La Signare, who has been knocking heads with some of the top turf females in the country in recent starts, returns to the Gulfstream turf, over which she won the Sand Springs last season.

There will also be a Super Hi-5 carryover of $2,840.83 heading into Saturday's card.

WHO'S HOT:  Luis Saez broke out of a rare slump at Gulfstream Park Friday while riding a three-bagger, scoring aboard Ms V Time ($4.60) in Race 2, Bareeqa ($6.80) in Race 6, and Mai Ty One One ($7.80) in Race 9.

Saffie Joseph Jr. saddled a pair of winners, scoring back-to-back with Foxy Belle ($4) in Race 4 and Berhanu ($5.20) in Race 5.

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