Weekend Winners Club

.
Saturday Feb 3 It will be a very special day at Gulfstream Park, with 8 races for 3yos, fillies and colts, including 5 graded stakes races including the Holy Bull, Swale, Forward Gal, Sweetest Chant, and Dania Beach. We will cover just the stakes races here for the sake of brevity. As usual, follow along in the Free Grid for Gulfstream today.
.
First up will be the Swale G3 for 3yos going 7f on dirt at Gulfstream Park at 1:30PM. Only 6 in the field but you can’t blame anyone for not taking a chance against the formidable Strike Power (Speightstown / Gold D’oro) who won easily his first time out in a 48k maiden in December here at GP.
However, that was only a 5.5f race, and 7f can make a big difference sometimes. Tricks To Doo (Into Mischief / Doolittle) broke his maiden 2nd out and then won the Inaugural 100k at Tampa in convincing fashion going away, both at 6f. Both of the above have impressive speed and power figures according to the Grid.
However, the top speed in the field is actually Diamond King (Quality Road / Akron Moon). The John Servis trained colt has won 3 races at 5.5, 6.5, and most recently a 7f stakes worth 100k at Laurel. Before that, he was ready to try the Jockey Club Cup G2 at 8.5f, where he lost the rider early.
The only other horse with a chance is Piven, who was erratic at Woodbine before winning the Limhouse 75k here last month. I expect 2 of these 4 colts will take up the road to the roses challenge and participate in a route next time, based on their performance today.
.
Next up in terms of stakes is the Sweetest Chant G3 for 3yof going 8f on turf. Despite solid chalk, there looks to be good value in this race. Cash Out at 8-1 is 2nd in Grid Power, and at 15-1 My Favorite Gift has top power and speed, and appears to be the only true frontrunner. However, foreigner Salsa Belle also ran early in winning her only race.
.
After a few races we’ll have the Forward Gal G3 for 3yof in the filly equivalent of the Swale at 7f. This one is wide open. Chalk has its merits, but look at the Grid for all the possibilities. Of course, when I say that, chalk usually wins.
.
Dania Beach G3 for 3yos going 8f on turf. Graham Motion’s Untamed Domain is a heavy ML favorite, and has the closing credentials to get it done. However, he will only have a couple speedsters to run at, including Pletcher’s Gidu at 3-1, who will sneakily try to win it up front in his first time at route.
Having something to say about that will be Speed Franco 6-1, who presses the early pace and won a stakes races before losing the next by 1 length. Cuestion de Tiempo will join them on the front end, but if there’s a question about his tempo on the stretch unless nobody goes with him.
.
At last we get to the Holy Bull G2 for 3yos at 8.5f on dirt, as the time approaches 6pm. This is the one we’ve all been waiting for. A field of 11 awaits to see who might be the best 3yo coming out of Florida.
The first thing you will notice is that there isn’t much speed in the field, after Aqueor at 15-1, who appears that he can’t handle his speed at the distance, but perhaps he can. Mississippi at 5-1ML has proven he can handle the distance and has plenty of speed. Bandito will try to stay with them for half a mile.
The favorite Enticed, along with Free Drop Billy, Audible and Pony Up, appear like they will be in best position to win if the frontrunners fail. Pony Up has been competing well on turf under Pletcher.
Any other longshot not aforementioned, I don’t see happening, but as you know with 3yos, almost anything can happen. So that’s the Gulfstream synopsis for Saturday.
.
Over at the Aqueduct at about 4:30PM, with Withers G3 for 3yos braving the cold at 9f features a short but competitive field of 6. Firenze Fire, one of our Derby Dozen, is the most proven so far, having won the Champagne G1 at Belmont last year and Jerome here last month.
.

.
Over at Santa Anita at about 5:30 eastern, their 3yo prep is the RB Lewis with a field of 9 that should be competitive against each other. But most of the field consists of maidens or those coming off their maiden wins.
.
As usual, for the Grids for all the major tracks and any you want, just go to www.horseracebetwin.com and look over the subscription options.
.
Good Luck!
Dalton

Trackback URI | Comments RSS