Art G Is Back ready for either surface in Bear's Den Stakes

Art G Is Back will run Saturday at Gulfstream Park whether the $75,000 Bear’s Den goes on turf or dirt, but trainer Ron Spatz does have a preference concerning the 7 1/2-furlong turf race for 3-year-olds.

“I’m convinced that he’s better on dirt than the turf, so I’m doing a little rain dance here,” he said. “I have two left feet, but sometimes my rain dance does work.”

That was the case two starts ago at Gulfstream, whenre Art G Is Back romped by 13 3/4 lengths in an off-the-turf allowance on July 31. The results were similar on June 9, when the horse won the off-the-turf $75,000 Thirsty Fish, also at Gulfstream.

Spatz has a favorable forecast brewing, too, with an 85 percent chance of rain Saturday, according to the Weather Channel.

The Bear’s Den drew a field of 12, plus a pair of main-track-only entrants. Art G Is Back could go favored over fellow stakes winners Stirling Drive and Jackson.

KEY CONTENDERS

Art G Is Back, by Exchange Rate

Last 3 Beyers: 95-88-75

◗ He owns the field’s best last-race Beyer Speed Figure, a 95 for his win in the $100,000 Benny the Bull on Aug. 24 at Gulfstream. The race came over the same seven-furlong distance the Bear’s Den would be run at if it is moved to the main track on Saturday.

“He’s undefeated at seven-eighths,” Spatz said of the horse, who also won his maiden at the distance at Gulfstream.

◗ Art G Is Back’s most recent turf race was July 6, when he closed from next to last to finish second by a neck in the $122,500 Not Surprising at a mile at Gulfstream. It was the fourth time the horse had run second or third in a turf stakes, all at Gulfstream.

“He’s no slouch on the grass,” Spatz said. “He hasn’t won on it, but he’s had a little bad luck. He really got stuck his last grass race, stuck on the inside, screaming for someplace to go. It opened up the last sixteenth.”

◗ Victor Lebron has the mount from post 3 for Monarch Stables.

“He runs from anywhere on the turf,” Spatz said. “He just doesn’t seem to show as much early foot as he does on the dirt.”

Stirling Drive, by Verrazano

Last 3 Beyers: 75-76-54

◗ He won the Not Surprising over the Gulfstream turf in his last start and was flattered when the second-, third-, and fourth-place finishers all returned to win in their next start. Those horses – Art G Is Back, Forever Mo, and Scraps – all run back in the Bear’s Den.

◗ Samy Camacho has the mount from the rail for trainer Milton Wolfson.