Allende brings combination of speed and royal breeding to Thursday turf sprint

Allende brings a splash of royalty to the Thursday card at Gulfstream Park West, where the 3-year-old daughter of Hall of Fame mare Ashado makes her first start against winners.

“She’s got some talent,” trainer Michael Stidham said.

Allende goes in the sixth race, a conditioned allowance at five furlongs on turf that carries an optional claiming price of $25,000. The race is for fillies and mares, and 12 are entered, with four designated for the main track only.

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Allende will be making her turf debut off a maiden special weight win over six furlongs Sept. 28 a Delaware Park. She set a clear pace and won by a neck in her second start. The move to turf is about available opportunities, according to Stidham, who trains Allende for her breeder, Godophin.

“We’ve actually entered her multiple times and haven’t been able to get a dirt race to go,” Stidham said. “We’re trying the turf. We really don’t have a good read on it until we send her out there and see how she handles it. There’s a chance it could come off. They’re forecast for a little bit of rain. We’d run either way.”

Allende is a daughter of Candy Ride, who gets 10 percent winners from his first-time turfers and 13 percent winners overall on the grass. Ashado, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014, never ran on the grass while amassing $3.9 million in earnings for winning races like the Kentucky Oaks and Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Allende debuted in June at Delaware Park, setting the pace to the late stages of a maiden special weight at six furlongs before finishing second. Stidham said early indications are the filly might be at her best sprinting.

“She’s very quick away from there,” Stidham said. “And she seems like she doesn’t want too much over five and a half. That’s what she’s shown us so far.

“More than anything, we were shooting for the distance [Thursday], and the surface is something we’re going to learn in the race.”

Ashado’s most successful runner is Westwood, whose biggest victory came at six furlongs in the $150,000 Runhappy Stakes in 2018 at Belmont Park.

Allende drew post 6 for Thursday and will be ridden by Samy Camacho.

“Any time you’re going that short of a distance I’d rather the middle to outside,” Stidham said. “If you happen to break a step slow, being outside gives you a better chance of not getting shuffled back.”

Catch a Thrill, who is stakes-placed on turf, will get good support off a runner-up finish against first-level allowance foes at five-eighths on the grass Sept. 17 at Gulfstream Park. Other top contenders include seasoned runners Sanity and Cat’s Astray.

The card Thursday also includes a conditioned allowance for 3-year-olds and up at a mile that carries an optional claiming price of $25,000.