Gulfstream: Xy Speed ‘Ready to Go Again’ for Go Cats Go Handicap

By David Joseph —-

Gulfstream Photo

Xy Speed ‘Ready to Go Again’ for Go Cats Go Handicap

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Clear Stars Stable’s 9-year-old gelding Xy Speed, having already extended his streak to seven consecutive seasons with at least one win, looks to make it two in a row in a competitive edition of the $70,000 Go Cats Go overnight handicap Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

The Go Cats Go for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for five furlongs over the turf course highlights a 10-race program on opening weekend of the Royal Palm Meet, which runs through Aug. 31. First race post time is 12:50 p.m.

In conjunction with the overnight handicap, the Stanley Cup will be on display in the Ten Palms restaurant Saturday at approximately noon. The Florida Panthers, known to their fans as the ‘Cats,’ are currently playing in defense of the franchise’s first National Hockey League championship.

Based at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, Xy Speed has the most starts (43) and wins (15) among 10 Go Cats Go entrants that include Grade 3 winner Yes I Am Free, fellow multiple stakes winner Eamonn, stakes winners Reef Runner and Okiro and Grade 3-placed Biz Biz Buzz.

“I’m looking forward to it,” trainer Michael Lerman said. “He’s at the top of his game. He’s very happy, and I’m looking for another big effort from him.”

Xy Speed has been third or better in 17 career tries on the grass at Gulfstream with eight wins, the most recent coming in a five-furlong turf dash Feb. 28 where he sat behind the speed before coming with a late run and drawing away to a 2 ¼-length decision over Biz Biz Buzz. It was the second straight race where he ran for a $62,500 claiming tag, having run second to Biz Biz Buzz by 1 ¼ lengths as the favorite Feb. 2.

“He’s 9. I wasn’t really in fear of anybody claiming him, especially coming off his race in the Janus,” Lerman said. “We gave him a little confidence boost by avoiding stakes horses in the winter. He responded really nicely. I really liked the way he drew off in hand last time. He’s ready to go again.”

An uncharacteristic 11th in the five-furlong Janus Dec. 21 on the Gulfstream turf, just the second time Xy Speed had been beaten by more than 2 ¾ lengths in over two years, he drew outermost Post 10 and will have Paco Lopez back aboard for the third straight race.

“He’s a terrific horse,” Lerman said. “He’s back to the regular, good, consistent Xy Speed. I’m happy to be taking him over there on Saturday. I like that he drew the outside. It’s going to let Paco put him pretty much wherever he wants. There’s sufficient speed again and, hopefully, it goes his way.”

The top three finishers from Gulfstream’s March 8 Silks Run sprinting five furlongs on turf return in the Go Cats Go. Robert Cotran’s Eamonn, 7, came with a dramatic late run to nail Reef Runner by a nose on the wire at odds of 10-1 and snap a 12-race losing streak. Six of his eight wins have come on the grass, where he was third by a length in Keeneland’s Shakertown (G2) last spring and beaten by the same margin when seventh in the 2023 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint (G2).

Alex and JoAnn Lieblong’s 4-year-old Florida homebred Reef Runner has never been worse than third in seven races over the Gulfstream turf, two of them wins. He has been third in three of his last four tries, all in stakes – the Silks Run, Jan. 25 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint and Janus – and won last fall’s Bob Umphrey Sprint that was rained off the grass to Gulfstream’s all-weather Tapeta course.

David Bernsen and Leon King Stable Corp.’s Biz Biz Buzz was claimed for $62,500 out of his runner-up finish to Xy Speed Feb. 28 and debuted for his new connections just eight days later in the Silks Run. After stumbling at the break, the 6-year-old gelding raced near the back of the pack before commencing a late run to be third, beaten a length.

“He ran a huge race,” trainer Jose D’Angelo said. “I think we lost the race at the gate. He missed the break and, going five furlongs, if you break slow you have no chance. He’s had some time to recover after the claim and the race. He ran quick in between. He’s sharp. I really liked his last workout. Hopefully we have a little more luck at the gate. The race has a lot of speed, so I would like to see him make a move later.”

Biz Biz Buzz had a sharp three-furlong breeze in 36.15 seconds March 29 at Palm Meadows, fastest of 50 horses. Second the 2021 Futurity (G3) on the Belmont Park turf in his second career race, he went 10 months between stakes starts leading up to the Silks Run.

“I always liked the horse and I was looking to get back into stakes with him, because I think [at] five furlongs he’s a horse that has everything that can be [good] in these kinds of races,” D’Angelo said. “He has speed, he can sit behind the speed, and that’s why I claimed him. He responded very well. The first time for us he ran third by nothing.”

D’Angelo also entered Grand Chanito Stable’s Fulanito, but said he would scratch.

Stablemates Yes I Am Free and Panther Island look to snap lengthy winless streaks. Of his nine career Gulfstream turf wins, 9-year-old Yes I Am Free’s most recent came in the April 2023 Sunny Isles overnight handicap, two months after winning a second straight Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint (G3). Panther Island, 6, picked up his most recent win in the December 2023 Janus.

Okiro, winner of the 2024 Animal Kingdom on the Turfway Park synthetic; Horsepower, second by a length at nearly 27-1 in Tampa’s five-furlong Turf Dash Feb. 22; and Bring Theband Home, unraced since finishing eighth after contesting the pace in the Oct. 2 Nearctic (G2) sprinting six furlongs on the Woodbine turf, complete the field.

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