Joe Orseno learned his lesson last time. With rain in the forecast at Gulfstream Park on Sunday, the trainer said he will scratch Mattingly and Extendo if the $75,000 Thirsty Fish Handicap is run on soft turf. “Unfortunately, they’re calling for rain on Sunday, around 2 o’clock,” Orseno said. “If they decide to keep the race on the turf, I will not be running either one of my horses.” In the $75,000 Go Cats Go Handicap last month, Orseno was of the opinion that the race should have been moved to synthetic after significant rainfall earlier in the day. Instead, the five-furlong sprint was run on a turf course designated as good. Mattingly and Extendo both ran fairly well, finishing second and third, but the trainer said he was expecting more and blamed the surface. If they run again Sunday, they will be rematched with Okiro, who defeated them last time out for trainer Jose Garoffalo. Despite his trainer’s concerns, Mattingly only came up a neck short in the Go Cats Go and could improve again in his third start off an eight-month layoff. The 5-year-old has only won 3 of 18 career starts, but around this time last year, he won a similar five-furlong turf allowance at Gulfstream with a 91 Beyer Speed Figure. His 2025 campaign ended early after a pair of disappointing stakes at Pimlico and Saratoga. “We think that his 5-year-old season is going to be the best year for him,” Orseno said. “So we’re hoping that he goes up to the ladder a little bit and I can start looking for bigger races. I’ve always thought he had the talent.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Extendo, a Florida-bred runner through and through, notably earned a pair of razor-sharp allowance victories on synthetic and turf at Gulfstream last year before shipping to Saratoga for the Grade 1 Jaipur, where he finished sixth. He has not won in five starts since the Jaipur and was arguably more affected by the softer surface last time out. “The jockey got off and said that it was just too soft for him,” Orseno said. “He never handled it, he never grabbed it, and he tried hard as he could.” Governor Sam holds an obvious class edge in the field of nine and will make his 4-year-old debut for George Weaver. The four-time stakes winner came up a half-length short in the Grade 2 Woodford last year before running eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. The Thirsty Fish will be his third start against older horses. Coppola will make his first start for new trainer Tareq Moubarak. In 38 career starts, mostly for trainer Dale Romans, the 7-year-old has won six stakes races and more than $1 million in purse money. Sosua Summer, a 7-year-old gelding trained by Victor Barboza Jr., is arguably best known for a string of four straight runner-up finishes in competitive allowances last year. He delivered an encore March 22, finishing second in a starter/optional-claiming race on synthetic. “All the time, he tries,“ Barboza said. Beach Colt has tailed off in his last two starts on dirt and will now switch to turf for Amador Sanchez. The gelding’s lone start on the grass back home in Chile was not successful, but the trainer said he felt confident taking the chance. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.