3-year-olds get turf opportunities in Honey Ryder, English Channel

Sophomores will be featured at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, with two $75,000 turf stakes sharing top billing on an 11-race card that begins at 12:55 p.m. Eastern. Both races – the Honey Ryder for 3-year-old fillies and the English Channel for 3-year-olds – will be contested over 1 1/16 miles.

First up are the fillies in race 5. Despite not having raced this year, Noble Ready looks like the one to beat in the seven-horse field.

Trained by Christophe Clement, Noble Ready is coming off a third-place finish in the $100,000 Chelsey Flower at Belmont Park on Oct. 30. The daughter of More Than Ready was in the mix early in her two previous races, including a runner-up finish in the $100,000 P.G. Johnson at Saratoga.

In the Chelsey Flower, she got squeezed back soon after the start and trailed early. She weaved her way through traffic, and in midstretch, it looked like she might win the one-mile race on turf. But she hung in the final eighth of a mile to finish third.

The layoff is an obvious concern. Nonetheless, over the past five years, Clement has won with 23 percent of his starters in non-graded stakes coming off a layoff of 180 days or longer. Expect Noble Ready to come back firing.

Noble Ready drew the outside post and will be ridden by Luca Panici.

Breaking from the inside post is Conquest Hardcandy, who took them all the way in the $100,000 Sanibel Island at Gulfstream on April 1. The one-mile race on turf has produced two next-out winners, and the 82 Beyer Speed Figure that Conquest Hardcandy received is the best in the field.

Edgard Zayas rides Conquest Hardcandy and likely will put her into the race right from the start.

Adorable Miss, a maiden winner for trainer Todd Pletcher in her only start, also has speed. She edged Abbreviate by a neck going 7 1/2 furlongs in a maiden special weight race at Gulfstream on Jan. 22.

English Channel Stakes

The English Channel drew nine horses and goes as race 10. The Pletcher-trained Bronson, who lost his only start on grass, could end up favored.

Bronson did run a decent race when he was the runner-up to subsequent turf-stakes winner Derek’s Smile going five furlongs in a $75,000 optional-claiming race over the Gulfstream course Dec. 30.

Bronson’s breeding indicates that he should thrive on turf. His dam, Cambiocorsa, won two Grade 3 races on the grass, and two of his siblings, Schiaparelli and Moulin, are Grade 2 turf winners.

In the Grade 3 Spiral at Turfway on March 25, his last start, Bronson lost by only 3 1/4 lengths after stumbling at the start and going very wide around the first turn. It also looked like he didn’t love running on Polytrack.

Bronson gets back on what should be his preferred surface, and with the blinkers going on for the first time, he might show more gate speed from post 4 with Zayas riding.

Erasmo’s Dream should be rolling late. He rallied to win the $60,000 Sage of Monticello at Gulfstream for trainer Armando de la Cerda on Feb. 20. In his most recent start, he was a lot closer to the pace than usual while stuck on the rail behind a slow pace in the $100,000 Cutler Bay on April 1. By the time Joel Rosario moved him off the rail, the two front-runners had kicked clear, and he ended up finishing fourth.

Erasmo’s Dream drew post 7 with Emisael Jaramillo picking up the mount.

Sir Sebastian, who beat Erasmo’s Dream in a $25,000 optional-claiming race going one mile on turf March 16, is the only three-time winner in the field.