Arindel holds strong pair in Hallandale Beach Stakes
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Arindel will look to add to its already impressive résumé in the 2-year-old division at Gulfstream Park this season when sending out two of the top contenders, Kiss and Hepburn, in Sunday’s $65,000 Hallandale Beach Stakes. A field of seven juvenile fillies was drawn for the main event to be decided at a mile on the main track.
Kiss is already stakes-placed and will look to move forward off a second-place finish in the six-furlong Sharp Susan here Aug. 13. The outing was the fourth for the already well-traveled daughter of Army Mule who began her career on turf, won her maiden over the main track at Ellis Park , and finished fifth after setting a contested pace in the Prairie Meadows Lassie.
“We thought a lot of her right from the start,” said Brian Cohen, stable manager for his father Alan Cohen’s Arindel Farm. “We tried her the first time on turf because of her breeding and pretty much threw that race out after she stumbled at the break. She won what seemed like a fairly decent maiden race in Kentucky, ran poorly for whatever reason at Prairie Meadows, and probably was a work away from her best race after getting sick and missing five days of training before the Sharp Susan. She’s trained well ever since, with distance being the big question for her, like for most of the fillies in this race.”
Hepburn finished third, despite an eventful trip, behind Star of Saturn, who also is in the Hallandale Beach lineup, when launching her career Aug. 6 before returning to win her maiden in impressive fashion going six furlongs just three weeks later.
“Of the two fillies in this race, I’m probably more bullish on her,” Cohen admitted. “I nominated her for the Frizette but decided to keep her here instead. Her pedigree says she really wants to go farther, and I think with the extra distance and her post, drawing outside, she’s got a pretty good shot in this race.”
Star of Saturn would likely have been the public’s choice in the Hallandale Beach after winning her debut on Aug. 6, a race flattered after both Hepburn and last-place finisher Mystic Lake came back to win maiden special weight races in their next starts. But Star of Saturn was entered and scheduled to run under allowance conditions here Friday and was expected to scratch from this spot.
Special Affair, second as the 3-2 favorite under allowance conditions over the Tapeta strip in her most recent start, could prove the one to catch stretching to a mile off a pair of five-furlong races. She completes the lineup along with maiden-claiming winners Just Take Notes and Good Bright Flames and Monmouth invader Omaha Girl.
Arindel makes stakes plans
Although Arindel sold the star of the barn, Clapton, privately last month, they still have several others pointing toward stakes opportunities in the coming weeks, including The Skipper Too, an overnight handicap winner during the summer who is likely to make his next start against statebreds in the Gil Campbell Memorial on Oct. 21, and the multiple graded stakes-placed Flakes who is expected to be among the invitees for the Grade 3 Princess Rooney on Oct. 7.
“Skipper is doing so well right now,” Cohen said. “Flakes had a little infection and had to scratch out of a Florida-bred stakes, then we missed a work due to weather. I plan to breeze her Saturday, and if we can get two good works in her, I’ll probably try her in the Princess Rooney, which figures to come up a short field.”
On a down note, Cohen reported he had to send stakes winner Reaper, arguably his best 2-year-old, back to the farm after he suffered a minor fracture working for the opening leg of the Florida Sire Stakes in late August.
◗ Friday’s work tab featured some big names, including Dean Delivers, who finished third behind division leaders Elite Power and Gunite in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt in his last start; Petulante, idle since capturing the Grade 3 Salvator Mile on June 17 at Monmouth Park; and Petulante’s undefeated juvenile stablemate Grand Mo the First, who could be Breeders’ Cup-bound after opening his career with a pair of wins on the Tapeta track.
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