Analyze It, L'Imperator give Brown a one-two punch in Fort Lauderdale Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Analyze It and L’Imperator, graded stakes-tested stablemates each coming off an allowance win in New York, should give trainer Chad Brown the upper hand in Saturday’s $200,000 Fort Lauderdale for 3-year-olds and up at nine furlongs on the turf.

The Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale is the last of five stakes, four of them graded, to be run on Saturday’s 11-race program, with first post at noon.

The Fort Lauderdale, a stepping-stone to the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational on Jan. 29, drew a full field of 12 plus one also-eligible. The field includes Doswell and Breaking the Rules, who finished second and third, a nose apart, behind Largent in the 2020 renewal of the event, and the Grade 1-tested Space Traveller. Trainer Mike Maker will be well represented, sending out the trio of Media Blitz, Order and Law, and Atone.

:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures.

Analyze It appears to be cycling back to the form that saw him finish second in the Grade 1 Secretariat and Grade 1 Belmont Derby and third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile as a 3-year-old in 2018. Analyze It was beaten three-quarters of a length or less on all three occasions. His career put on hold a couple of times due to foot issues, Analyze It has started just six times in 2020-21, posting two victories during that period, including a wire-to-wire allowance triumph going a mile on Oct. 8 at Belmont for which he earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

Analyze It’s figures to be on or with the pace from the outset of the Fort Lauderdale, and that running style complements the stretch-running L’Imperator, who rallied from midpack to an impressive 2 3/4-length victory in a 1 3/16-mile allowance test on Nov. 19 at Aqueduct despite being hung wide throughout. The win was the second in five starts and fifth overall for L’Imperator, who finished third as the 3-5 favorite in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch closing weekend at Saratoga.

Doswell narrowly outfinished Breaking the Rules to finish second in the 2020 Fort Lauderdale despite having to take up sharply near the inside in early stretch. Sidelined nine months following a third-place finish in the Grade 3 W.L. McKnight here in January, Doswell finished 3 1/4 lengths behind L’Imperator when the pair met for the first time last month in New York.

Breaking the Rules came out of the Fort Lauderdale to finish a ground-saving ninth in the 2021 Pegasus Turf, after which he, too, took time off. He returned to defeat allowance competition this past summer at Saratoga, but must bounce back Saturday from a seventh-place finish in the Artie Schiller at Aqueduct.

Space Traveller gets plenty of class relief, having been competitive in three consecutive Grade 1 races since joining trainer Brendan Walsh’s barn earlier this season. Space Traveller was a Group 2 winner in Ireland prior to an eighth-place finish in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Mile.

“The quick ground and the way the turf races are run at Gulfstream should suit his style nicely,” Walsh said.

Suwannee River Stakes

The $100,000 Suwannee River for fillies and mares features the local return of the graded stakes winner Shifty She, who enters the Grade 3 turf fixture in peak form off a wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel on Oct. 23 at Belmont.

The Noble Damsel, decided at the same one-mile distance as the Suwannee River, was the third stakes win of the season for Shifty She, who has registered four victories in six starts over the local course.

:: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports

“We thought about going straight to the Pegasus [Filly and Mare Turf], but there’s too much time in between,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “Hopefully, she’ll run well here and go to the Pegasus after. I think she’s versatile and drawn well, so we can play the break. She can go quicker if she needs to, but she’s handy enough to be in the first three and win from there if need be.”

Like the Fort Lauderdale, the Suwannee River drew a full field of 12, with Shifty She to carry high weight of 125 pounds under the allowance conditions of the race.

In a Hurry looms among the key contenders while getting a second chance at Shifty She, having finished a ground-saving fourth, beaten 2 1/2 lengths by that rival, in the Noble Damsel.

Keeper of Time, a Group 3 winner in Ireland, also demands respect coming off a third-place finish in Belmont’s seven-furlong Glen Cove Stakes while making just her third start since joining Walsh’s barn during the summer.

Sweet Melania will seek to snap a seven-race winless streak dating back to her victory in the Grade 3 Wonder Again in June 2020. Third in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, Sweet Melania exits a second-place effort when outfinished by Curly Ruth under allowance conditions on Oct. 15 at Keeneland.