Gulfstream Today: Sunday’s $700,000 Guaranteed Pool; Stakes Recaps

By David Joseph —-

$700,000 Guaranteed Pool on Sunday’s Rainbow 6

Total Handle Saturday $17.318 Million

Trainer Ralph Nicks Starts Championship Meet Off Hot

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Gulfstream Park’s 20-cent Rainbow 6 will have a guaranteed pool of $700,000 when racing resumes Sunday with a noon first-race post.

Sunday’s Rainbow 6 will begin with the sixth race, a turf event at a mile. The sequence also includes 2-year-olds at a mile on the main track and an optional allowance event at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

Multiple tickets with all six winners Saturday returned $4,052.06.

Saturday’s program, featuring five stakes, four graded, had a total handle of $17,318,451, a 39-percent increase over the corresponding day from last year.

Trainer Ralph Nicks Starts Championship Meet Off Hot

Trainer Ralph Nicks celebrated his torrid start for the 2019-2020 Championship Meet in the Gulfstream Park winner’s circle following the first two races on Saturday’s program.

Nicks saddled the winners of the early Daily Double – both 2-year-old first-time starters sired by Khozan. The Daily Double sweep gave the 52-year-old Avery, Texas native four wins (and two runner-up finishes) from his last six starters. Stonehedge LLC’s Just a Bit Sassy scored by 3 ½ lengths under Tyler Gaffalione in Race 1, a mile turf race for maiden $25,000 claimers. Brent Fernung and Michael Sebastian’s Untitled rolled to an eye-catching 11-length victory under Emisael Jaramillo in Race 2, a six-furlong maiden special weight race run over the main track.

“My numbers aren’t that huge, so there’s going to be a little slow-down. But we’ve got a solid group of useful horses across the board. I think it will be a good winter,” Nicks said. “We have 38 back there, so it’s not going to be the starts we’ve had in the past, but quality-wise – with Shivaree, this horse, Liam’s Lucky Charm, Positively Awesome coming back either this week or the next week – there are some nice horses in the barn.”

Shivaree, Liam’s Lucky Charm and Positively Awesome are all 2-year-old stakes winners.

Just a Bit Sassy ($7.20) was claimed out of his debut victory by Mary Eppler, but Nicks has high hopes for Untitled, who ran six-furlongs in 1:10.17 after breaking from the rail post position.

“It didn’t surprise me, but I didn’t like the 1 hole. He got left a little bit – I don’t know if he stumbled a little or what – but he’s never been that quick out of there. I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Nicks said. “From the middle of the race on, he’s trained that way.”

After breaking sixth, Untitled quickly took Jaramillo to the front and never looked back, striding out to the wire to finish off his impressive debut.

“He looks like a two-turn horse. He’s built like it and looks like it. Time will tell,” said Nicks, who has saddled six winners from 19 starters to kick off the meet.

Untitled’s victory added to an already successful first-crop by Khozan, a Distorted Humor-sired half-brother to multiple champion Delta Princess standing in Florida.

“I like him. I’ve had a lot of success with him this year,” said Nicks, who saddled Khozan-sired Liam’s Lucky Charm for a victory in the $200,000 Florida Sire Stakes Affirmed Division in September. “Hopefully, there’ll be more to come.”

Rainbow 6 Guaranteed Pool: $700,000

Ortiz Guides Instilled Regard to Fort Lauderdale (G2) Win

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – OXO Equine’s Instilled Regard, a graded-stakes winner on dirt as a 3-year-old, matched the feat on turf before the end of his 4-year-old season thanks to a heady ride from reigning Eclipse Award winner Irad Ortiz Jr. in Saturday’s $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

The 63rd running of the 1 1/8-mile Fort Lauderdale for 3-year-olds and up on the grass was the richest of five stakes, four graded, worth $600,000 in purses on an 11-race program anchored by the $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday (G3) on dirt.

Instilled Regard ($8.60) completed the distance in 1:47.18 over a firm course to snap an eight-race losing streak dating back to his triumph in the LeComte (G3) on the 2018 Triple Crown trail that ended for the Arch colt after finishing fourth to eventual Triple Crown champion Justify in the Kentucky Derby (G1).

“This is the same horse that showed up for me [at 85-1] on Kentucky Derby day a year ago. I knew I had a better horse than that that day, and we ended up beating a lot of great horses,” OXO Equine’s Larry Best said. “This is a real horse.

“He needed some time to mature a little bit. We knew he’d be better as a 3- and 4-year-old,” he added. “He’s fresh off the layoff, and this is the kind of race we needed to think about to go on to bigger things.”

Sent off at 3-1 in a field of nine, Instilled Regard settled in third along the rail as Cross Border went the opening quarter-mile in 24.63 seconds pressed on the outside by his stablemate, Sycamore (G3) winner Marzo. Up the Ante joined the top group four wide for a half that went in 49.22.

Ortiz was still stuck behind horses midway on the turn after a six-furlong split of 1:12.60, but had plenty of room between Marzo and Up the Ante once straightened for home to set Instilled Regard down for a drive to the wire and was able to hold off late bids from Admission Office, who finished second, and the 2-1 favorite Channel Cat, who wound up third.

“I got a perfect trip,” Ortiz said. “My horse broke sharp and I used him a little bit to be close. I didn’t want to be too far and he put me in the right position. I was just waiting for the hole and finally at the end turning for home I got through and you could see how [he took off].”

Instilled Regard, purchased for $1.05 million as a 2-year-old in training in March 2017, earned his third win from 14 career starts with purse earnings of nearly $600,000. The Fort Lauderdale marked his first victory in four grass attempts, to go along with one second and two thirds.

Instilled Regard was beaten less than a length in his previous start Nov. 9, a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer on the Aqueduct grass, his first race following a distant sixth in the May 3 Alysheba (G3) on dirt. He was trained early in his career by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer.

“He’s got a great pedigree. His grandmother is Heavenly Prize,” Best said. “We finally got the conditioning up and I got the right man to ride the horse. Over and above that, we had a lot of good luck.”

Warhorse War Story Captures Saturday’s Harlan’s Holiday (G3)

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Imaginary Stables and Glenn Ellis’ War Story, a multiple-graded stakes winner with $2.9 million in earnings, turned in yet another game effort Saturday at Gulfstream Park to win the $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday (G3).

“This horse fires almost every time out. He’s named correctly. He’s a warrior,” said Imaginary Stables’ John Guarnere said.

The Harlan’s Holiday, a 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-olds and up, was one of five stakes on Saturday’s 11-race card that also featured the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2), $100,000 Rampart (G3), $100,000 Sugar Swirl (G3) and $100,000 My Charmer. The Harlan’s Holiday and Fort Lauderdale are preps for the Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series at Gulfstream Jan. 25.

“We may get an invite for the Pegasus,” Guarnere said. “He doesn’t traditionally run well at this track, but after that…If we get an invite, we’ll go.”

War Story, who finished off-the-board in the 2018 Pegasus World Cup, lagged off a heated early pace between Bodexpress, the even-money favorite, and Prince Lucky, the 6-5 second betting choice. Bodexpress ran the first quarter in 22.82 seconds before Prince Lucky to his inside took a misstep and was pulled up by jockey John Velazquez. The favorite continued to show the way past a half-mile in 46.14 before being challenged by Red Crescent on the turn into the homestretch. Under an aggressive ride by Luis Saez, War Story mounted a wide rally through the stretch to prevail by 1 ½ lengths in 1:42.45.

“He’s a horse you have to keep busy all the way. At the half-mile pole, he responded to me. In the stretch, he switched leads and took off,” Saez said.

Phat Man, ridden by Irad Ortiz, rallied to finish second, 1 ½ lengths.ahead of a tiring Bodexpress.

War Story was making his first start for trainer Elizabeth Dobles, providing the up-and-coming South Florida-based trainer with her first graded-stakes success.

“It’s exciting. Like every other race I win, it’s a pleasure,” Dobles said. “He’s a hard-knocking horse.”

Lady’s Island By Herself in Saturday’s Sugar Swirl (G3) Score

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Averill Racing LLC and Paul Matties’ Lady’s Island took full advantage of being the speediest of the several quality speed horses in Saturday’s $100,000 Sugar Swirl (G3), scoring a powerful 6 ¾-length score in the six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares at Gulfstream Park.

The Sugar Swirl was one of five stakes on Saturday’s 11-race card that also featured the $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday, $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2), $100,000 Rampart (G3) and $100,000 My Charmer. The Harlan’s Holiday and Fort Lauderdale are preps for the Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series at Gulfstream Jan. 25.

While capturing her first graded-stakes victory, the 5-year-old daughter of Greatness provided trainer Georgina Baxter the first graded-stakes success of her career.

Lady’s Island ($8.60) outsprinted A Bit of Both, the 9-5 favorite ridden by Paco Lopez, and Heavenhasmynikki, who was making her first start since finishing off the board in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), to grab an uncontested early lead. The Florida-bred mare set fractions of 22.15 and 44.69 seconds for the first half-mile before completing six furlongs in 1:10.75.

Meadow Dance closed to finish second under Javier Castellano, 1 ¼ lengths ahead of Pretty Greeley, a 70-1 longshot ridden by Sophie Doyle.

Saturday’s front-running score was Lady’s Island’s eighth victory in nine starts this year and her 13th career win.

Sugar Swirl Quotes

Trainer Georgina Baxter (Lady’s Island): “Unbelievable. It’s amazing. I was so nervous, because I was kind of quietly confident. She was breezing really good and she’s been training lights-out. We were going to run her in the Claiming Crown, but when [Thinkin] Cowtown ran so good [to win the Claiming Crown Distaff Dash Dec. 7] we thought she handles the grass, but she’s probably better on the dirt.”

“She loves it in front. She’s really fast. Everyone always says they have fast fillies, but they’re not going faster than this one. She’s just super quick. And she’s put on all this muscle now, and she can carry it.”

“I was kind of worried, because I knew she was training really sharp. I thought she was really, really good and how could she improve from what she’s done, but I kept having to pinch myself. I was hoping she wasn’t too sharp.”

“We always let the horses tell us when they’re ready, but we’ll see how she comes out of it.”

Jockey Emisael Jaramillo (Lady’s Island): “I looked at the program and I saw the speed couldn’t beat [Lady Island]. The horse has natural speed. When the gate opened I put my hands down and the horse took the lead easy. I didn’t worry about the speed.”

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, 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. For more information contact David Joseph at david.joseph@gulfstreampark.com or call 954.457.6451.