Gulfstream News & Notes 1.12.17

By David Joseph —-

Rachel’s Sibling Dolphus Enters G3 Hal’s Hope with Confidence
Hal’s Hope Marks Return to Races for Team Colors
Gulfstream Turf Course Right Up ‘Lukes’ Alley

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Fresh off a confidence-building romp over older horses to cap his sophomore campaign, Dede McGehee’s Dolphus is set to make his graded-stakes debut in Saturday’s $150,000 Hal’s Hope (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

The half-brother to Hall of Fame mare Rachel Alexandra carried great expectations early in his career both for his pedigree and after winning two of his first three starts last winter at Fair Grounds.

Given a break through the late winter and spring, he returned with a pair of off-the-board finishes in back-to-back summer stakes at Saratoga and Delaware Park, then got another short freshening before returning to run fourth in a one-mile allowance Oct. 27 at Keeneland.

Trainer Joe Sharp kept the Lookin At Lucky colt in Kentucky to prepare for his 2016 finale, a seven-furlong off-the-turf sprint Dec. 11 at Gulfstream where he set the pace and drew off handily down the stretch to win by 9 ¾ lengths.

“He came out of the race great. He seems to have picked his head up a little bit,” Sharp said. “[The Hal’s Hope came] up pretty tough, but he moved forward a lot last time and we’re looking for him to move forward again with a little bit more confidence under his belt.

“It was a huge relief, I’m not gonna lie,” he added. “We’ve known the horse has the ability and we believed in him but at the same time we kind of felt like he’d let us down a few times and left us scratching our head. I think the addition of blinkers definitely seemed to help him. The sealed racetrack could have been a factor, as well.”

Dolphus drew the rail in a nine-horse Hal’s Hope that includes graded-winners Ami’s Flatter, Mr. Jordan and Tommy Macho and graded stakes-placed Realm, Team Colors and Unbridled Outlaw. Jockey Joel Rosario will be aboard for the first time.

“Circumstances kind of put him there where he got pretty brave on the lead last time. His two other victories he had come from off the pace,” Sharp said. “Hopefully the addition of blinkers was just a simple thing to make him focus, because the ability’s there. When he breezes in the mornings he handles the fast tracks fine, so that has never been a concern of ours.

“If he’s competitive in the Hal’s Hope, which we think he will be, then we’ll know he’s continued to move forward,” Sharp said. “If he isn’t competitive or didn’t give us the effort we were looking for, then we might consider trying him on the grass the next time.”

Hal’s Hope Marks Return to Races for Team Colors

Joseph Allen’s homebred Team Colors, unraced since finishing second in the Skip Away (G3) last April at Gulfstream Park, makes his long-awaited return to the races in the Hal’s Hope.

The 5-year-old son of Street Cry made his first four starts in France in the winter and spring of 2015 before joining trainer Jimmy Jerkens that summer at Saratoga. He has never been worse than third in seven North American starts with allowance wins at 1 ¼ miles on turf and 1 1/16 miles on dirt.

He was second in the English Channel and Tropical Park Derby turf stakes, the latter at Gulfstream, to cap 2015 and opened last year with a neck win over a muddy main track before finishing a gutsy second to Valid in the 1 1/8-mile Skip Away. After returning to New York to prepare for the Westchester Stakes, Team Colors suffered a fractured cannon bone that was surgically repaired.

“He was doing so good, that’s what killed us. We were really looking forward to a big year with him. It was just one of those things,” Jerkens said. “The operation went well. It wasn’t a displaced fracture so it was pretty simple. It mended perfectly and he hasn’t missed a beat. He’s like a new horse.”

Team Colors has been working steadily for his debut, including four breezes since mid-December at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County. Most recently he went five furlongs from the gate in 1:00.90, fastest of 14 horses at the distance Jan. 7.

“Last year it took him a while. He hadn’t run in this country yet, either, so that might be a little difference but it took him a few starts to round to form. I think he’s a little different now. He’s older and mature and a little stronger,” Jerkens said. “It’s a tough spot. He’s training great, I’m not saying he won’t run good or anything like that, but I’d have to think he’d be better with a start under his belt. But the important thing is to get him going and get him set up for the rest of the year.”

Gulfstream Turf Course Right Up ‘Lukes’ Alley

Lukes Alley is set for a return to the turf course over which he established Grade 1 credentials during the 2015-2016 Championship Meet at Gulfstream Park. The Josie Carroll-trained 7-year-old is slated to face 11 rivals in Saturday’s $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2), a 1 1/16-mile turf event for 4-year-olds and up.

Lukes Alley finished second, less than a length behind victorious Heart to Heart in the Fort Lauderdale last year prior to capturing the $350,000 Gulfstream Park Turf (G1).

“We were planning on an allowance race as a prep, but unfortunately it didn’t go, so we’re going straight into this race,” Carroll said. “The ultimate goal is the race he won last year.”
The Gulfstream Turf Handicap, which is scheduled for Feb. 11, provided a career highlight for Lukes Alley, a multiple graded-stakes winner who won a Sovereign Award in 2014 as Canada’s champion older horse.

He’s just a very, very exciting horse who finally got his due. He finally got into a position to show what he’s made of,” said Carroll, whose trainee has won eight of 15 starts while proving equally efficient on turf and Woodbine’s Polytrack surface.

The son of Flower Alley went to the sidelines for nine months after the Gulfstream Park Turf before returning in the Autumn (G2) at Woodbine Nov. 6 with a fifth-place finish.

“He suffered a minor injury prepping for the next start and we elected to give him plenty of time off to make sure he came back 100 percent,” Carroll said. “[The Autumn) was a great race; he just got a little tired. It would have been better if he had a couple more weeks to train, but he was sitting on go, and we needed to get his campaign started.”

The Eugene Melnyk homebred is slated to be ridden by Paco Lopez, who rode him in both the Fort Lauderdale and Gulfstream Turf Handicap last season.

Carroll is also scheduled to saddle Amy’s Flatter for a start in Saturday’s $150,000 Hal’s Hope (G3), a mile main-track event for 4-year-olds and up.

The graded stakes-winning 5-year-old son of Flatter won an allowance race last year and finished third in the Florida Derby (G1) in 2015.

“He seems to love the Gulfstream surface, so we’re hoping for a nice race from him,” Carroll said.

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.