02/15/2012 5:11PM

Gulfstream: Force Freeze heads eight in Sprint Championship

By Mike Welsch
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Barbara D. Livingston
Force Freeze was second in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Animal Kingdom’s return to the races on Saturday at Gulfstream Park will take some of the spotlight away from the day’s feature event, the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship. The seven-furlong GP Sprint drew a field of eight topped by Force Freeze, runner-up behind Eclipse Award winner Amazombie in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Force Freeze will break from the extreme outside with jockey Paco Lopez back aboard. Lopez was replaced by John Velazquez in the Breeders’ Cup.

Force Freeze’s chief competition figures to come from Grade 1 winner Capt. Candyman Can and the steadily improving Troilus, who has won all three of his starts since being transferred to trainer Marty Wolfson’s barn early last fall. The remainder of the field includes Bold Warrior, Decisive Moment, Amanecer de Oro, Dixie Slam, and Simba’s Story.