Bahamian Squall tunes up for Saratoga in Housebuster

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – One couldn’t blame trainer David Fawkes if he finds himself looking ahead just a bit when he sends out his star sprinter Bahamian Squall as the likely favorite in Saturday’s $75,000 Housebuster Stakes at Gulfstream Park. After all, Fawkes already is planning on making a return trip with Bahamian Squall this summer to Saratoga, where the horse finished second a year ago in the Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap.

Although Fawkes readily admits that he is using the 6 1/2-furlong Housebuster as a prep for next month’s Vanderbilt, he is confident that Bahamian Squall has trained well enough to win Saturday, despite having been idle since finishing third seven months ago in defense of his title in the Sunshine State Stakes.

The Housebuster is the featured attraction on a stellar 11-race program that includes four other $75,000 sprint stakes. The card also includes the Paseana for fillies and mares, the Cherokee Run for 3-year-olds, the Cash Run for 3-year-old fillies, and the Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint at five furlongs.

The four main-track stakes mimic the four graded stakes traditionally run on Calder’s Summit of Speed program, which also had been scheduled for Saturday but was canceled due to the recent dates agreement signed between the two neighboring south Florida tracks.

Bahamian Squall won the Grade 2 Smile Sprint on the 2013 Summit of Speed card, rallying to a 1 3/4-length victory over defending Breeders’ Cup sprint champion Trinniberg. Four weeks later, Bahamian Squall finished a troubled second behind Justin Phillip in the Vanderbilt. He also would encounter traffic issues before checking home a late-running sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

“It’s a prep. I really want to go back to Saratoga with him later this summer, but that being said, he’s as sharp as I’ve seen him right now, and he always runs well fresh,” said Fawkes. “Naturally, the race would mean more if it were a Grade 2 like the Smile, but that wouldn’t have changed anything about the way we trained him for the race. I also like the fact the race is 6 1/2 furlongs, not six like the Smile. I think he’s a little better at that distance.”

The Housebuster drew a full field of 12, including defending champion Black Diamond Cat and the Grade 2-winning filly Heart Stealer, who is cross-entered and expected to start earlier in the day in the Paseana.

The red-hot Mr. Baker, who has won all three of his starts, including Calder’s Ponche Handicap, since being haltered for a bargain $16,000 here in February, will carry the high weight of 123 pounds under the allowance conditions of the Housebuster, two more than Bahamian Squall.

Black Diamond Cat rallied to a 2 3/4-length triumph over Close It Out in the 2013 Housebuster but is winless in six subsequent starts, including a third-place finish behind Mr. Baker under allowance conditions here May 3.

Like Fawkes, trainer Marty Wolfson is looking down the road to Saratoga with Heart Stealer, one of the four fillies and mares he will send out against four other rivals in the 6 1/2-furlong Paseana. Heart Stealer has been idle since winning the Grade 2 Inside Information here March 22 and will use the Paseana as a prep for the Grade 1 Ballerina next month at the Spa.

“I hate to run four horses in the same race, but I really want to get a race into Heart Stealer before the Ballerina,” said Wolfson.

Aside from Heart Stealer, the Wolfson quartet consists of Centrique, Quiet Hour, and Kipling’s Joy. Centrique finished third in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap in February but proved no match for Heart Stealer when fifth as the favorite in the Inside Information. Quiet Hour, a former claimer, and Kipling’s Joy, are both seeking their first stakes wins, but both have been working well for the Paseana.

Carlo Vaccarezza took out his trainer’s license only a few months ago, but he will have major players in both 3-year-old stakes, with Little Daddy the horse to beat in the Cherokee Run and impressive debut winner Little Alexis among the key players in the Cash Run.

Little Daddy returns to the main track after finishing second as the favorite while making his turf debut in the 1 1/16-mile English Channel Stakes on June 14.

“All we need is a little pace, and I expect him to run very big, although with his breeding, I still believe his future will be around two turns on the grass,” said Vaccarezza, who plans to run Little Daddy in blinkers for the first time.

C Zee, third in the Grade 3 Hutcheson, and Bolita Boyz, who won the Juvenile Sprint here last fall following the disqualification of Wildcat Red, appear to be the main threats.

Little Alexis earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure in upsetting eventual Grade 1 winner My Miss Sophia in her first career start Feb. 9. She was entered in an allowance here last week but scratched due to a wet track.

“I think the race for the fillies is a lot tougher than the race for Little Daddy, but she’s training great, and while I would have preferred to bring her back in the allowance, sometimes when you have a horse as talented as she is, class will make up for the lack of experience,” Vaccarezza said.

Florida Sun and Scandalous Act, one-two in Calder’s Leave Me Alone Stakes on May 31, along with Wolfson’s uncoupled duo of Yes Liz and the graded stakes-placed Euphrosyne, also are part of an extremely competitive lineup in the Cash Run.