Gulfstream: Harlan’s Holiday Set for Renewal as Graded Stakes Dec. 17

By David Joseph —-

Harlan’s Holiday Set for Renewal as Graded Stakes Dec. 17
New Grade 3 One of 3 Graded Races on Card with 5 Stakes
Talk Logistics, Storming My Way Take Different Route to Stakes
Sweetontheladies Takes New Dimension into $75,000 Smooth Air

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Set to be renewed as a graded stakes for the first time Dec. 17 at Gulfstream Park, the $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday (G3) attracted 18 nominations, including five from the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher, the 13-time defending Championship Meet titlist.

The 6th running of the 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-olds and up is one of five stakes on a card that will also feature the $100,000 Sugar Swirl (G3) and the $100,000 Rampart (G3).

Pletcher nominated Keen Ice, the 2015 Travers (G1) winner who finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) last time out; Tommy Macho, a multiple-stakes winner who captured the Fred Hooper (G3) during last season’s Championship Meet; Stanford, the $1.250 million Charles Town Classic (G2) winner who finished second in the last season’s Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2); Madefromlucky, a multiple Grade 2 stakes winner; and Neolithic, a late-developing 3-year-old who finished second in the Discovery(G3) last time out.

Pletcher saddled Liam’s Map for a victory in the Harlan’s Holiday during the 2013-2014 Championship Meet before going on to win the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1).

Graded-stakes winners Awesome Slew and Laoban are also on the list of nominees.

The 38th running of the Sugar Swirl, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares, has a list of 16 nominees, including multiple graded-stakes winner Stonetastic, who captured the Inside Information (G2) at Gulfstream in March.

The 41st running of the Rampart, a miles stakes for fillies and mares, attracted 17 nominations that includes Grade 1 winner Birdatthewire and graded-stakes winners Engaginglee, Go Maggie Go.
The 5th running of the $100,000 El Prado, a 7 ½-furlong turf race for 3-year-olds and up, and the 12th running of the $100,000 South Beach, a 7 ½-furlong turf race for fillies and mares, drew 18 and 26 nominations, respectively.

Talk Logistics, Storming My Way Take Different Route to Stakes

They come from the same barn, but Eddie Plesa Jr.-trained 2-year-olds Talk Logistics and Storming My Way head into Saturday’s Juvenile Showcase Day stakes engagements on much different paths.

Donald Mensh and Mel Paikoff’s Storming My Way, purchased for $40,000 as a 2-year-old in training in March, will be making his fifth career start in the $75,000 Smooth Air, contested at one mile. After two failed attempts against open company, he broke his maiden against fellow Florida-breds Oct. 14.

In his most recent start, Storming My Way stalked the pace and dueled for the lead from the top of the stretch to the eighth pole before finishing second behind late-running Sweetontheladies, who also returns in the Smooth Air.

Jockey Paco Lopez, aboard for both his unveiling and his stakes debut, returns to ride from Post 7 of eight.

“He came out of it well. The first thing that Paco said when he got off of him was, ‘I think he wants to go longer.’ My feeling is the longer race is going to be a tougher race but you have to find out so we’ll find out if he is better going longer,” Plesa said. “I like the idea of a one-turn mile. He’s ready to run; we just have to find out where he ends up.

“He’s coming into the race in a better situation than the other one for those reasons. He’s raced more times and coming off a race where he’s stakes-placed,” he added. “All that is what I would have liked to have had for the other horse to see him at his best. Storming My Way you’re going to see at his best. The other horse, there’s room for improvement.”

Hardway Stables’ Talk Logistics was a 3 ¾-length debut winner July 3 at Parx going five furlongs before minor issues put him on the sidelines. A $100,000 purchase in April as a 2-year-old in training, he makes his return in the $75,000 Buffalo Man at six furlongs, also with Lopez up.

“He’s one of my better 2-year-olds,” Plesa said. “I would have liked to have run him back in an allowance race, but we didn’t have the option. He’s ready to run. I think he’s a nice horse, I just don’t know. Other horses are going to be a little bit more conditioned and a little bit sharper than him.

“He’s one that I thought would run well first time out,” he added. “He showed intelligence and even more important than the intelligence sometimes is the ability, and he showed that he had it. We weren’t surprised at all.”

Storming My Way and Talk Logistics are both by the stallion High Cotton, the No. 2 active stallion in Florida who entered stud in 2008. Among his progeny are stakes winners R Angel Katelyn, Karen’s Silk, She’s Incredible, Dream of Me and April Gaze.

“To me, High Cotton is the best Florida stallion, certainly now,” Plesa said. “I’m not as involved in the Florida-bred program as I once was because my time is split, but I like High Cotton. I’ve bred mares to him myself. I think he’s the best stallion in Florida.”

Plesa’s other stakes starter Saturday is Salute With Honor in the $75,000 Pulpit at one mile on the grass. A front-running winner of his debut Oct. 15, the chestnut son of To Honor and Serve was third in the Juvenile Turf Nov. 12 at Gulfstream Park West in his grass debut.

Sweetontheladies Takes New Dimension into $75,000 Smooth Air

After showing speed in each of his first three races, Four Horseman Racing Stable and Lady Lindsay Racing Stables’ Sweetontheladies became a stakes winner in his most recent start with a dramatic run from off the pace.

His three-length victory in the Juvenile Sprint Nov. 12 at Gulfstream Park West improved Sweetontheladies to a perfect 3-0 on dirt, a streak the Henry Collazzo trainee will take into the $75,000 Smooth Air.

Collazzo also nominated Sweetontheladies to the six-furlong Buffalo Man, but opted to give him another shot going longer. His only other try at a mile came in the Armed Forces Oct. 1 on the Gulfstream Park turf.

“I always thought he was push-button but circumstances [in his last race] proved that he really is. The way he trains in the morning I’ve got a lot of confidence that he’ll get a distance of ground,” Collazzo said. “He’s push-button and when you have a horse like that, all that matters is that he gives it to you the last quarter.”

A gray or roan son of Twirling Candy, Sweetontheladies has earned $119,342 in purses after being purchased for $25,000 as a 2-year-old in training in April. Collazzo continues to be impressed by the maturity and ability of his young horse.

“Every time I breeze him I’m amazed because he looks like he’s going two seconds slower than the clock. He’s going that easy,” he said. “You can see him kind of drop down and level out like a cat chasing a pigeon the last eighth of a mile. He’s just gotten better and better.”

Gulfstream Park is a Stronach Group company, North America’s leading Thoroughbred racetrack owner/operator. The Stronach Group racetracks include Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park & Casino, Golden Gate Fields, Portland Meadows, Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, home of the world-famous Preakness. The company owns and operates the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida, and is one of North America’s top race horse breeders through its award-winning Adena Springs operation. The Stronach Group is one of the world’s largest suppliers of pari-mutuel wagering systems, technologies and services. Its companies include AmTote, a global leader in wagering technology; XpressBet, an Internet and telephone account wagering service; and Monarch Content Management, which acts as a simulcast purchase and sales agent of horseracing content for numerous North American racetracks and wagering outlets. The Stronach Group is also a leading producer of social media content for the horseracing industry.