Best Plan Yet on upswing for Forty Niner

While the Travers Stakes at Saratoga represents the apex of Saturday racing action across North America, horseplayers still looking for more 3-year-old stakes action will have to wait only about 20 minutes after the Travers to find more at Gulfstream Park.

The $75,000 Forty Niner Stakes caps a solid Saturday card at the south Florida track, and the 1 1/16-mile turf race appears to tilt toward several horses drawn toward the hedge: Best Plan Yet (post 1, Jesus Rios), Ex Pirate (post 3, Ramsey Zimmerman), and Bolita Boyz (post 4, Edgard Zayas).

A total of nine colts and geldings are entered in the Forty Niner, although General Sham’mah will start only if weather forces the race to the main track.

The Forty Niner is carded as the 10th of 11 Saturday races. First post is 1:15 p.m. Eastern, with the feature going at 6:03. The entire card is available via live streaming on drf.com.

The Forty Niner is named for the Claiborne Farm star who won major races as a 3-year-old of 1988, including the Travers under Chris McCarron.

Key Contenders

Best Plan Yet (Last 3 Beyers: 56-71-71)

◗ This rail-drawn Jacks or Better homebred was a forgettable longshot a couple of times early this year on the Triple Crown trail, but he has been more competitive against local competition, and turf might actually be his forte.

◗ His trainer, Stanley Gold, has been dominant among Gulfstream stakes trainers in recent months, netting 4 wins and 3 seconds from his last 12 stakes starters. His stakes earnings of nearly $460,000 during that period is easily tops among trainers.

Ex Pirate (Last 3 Beyers: 28-66-78)

◗ Put a big red squiggly line through his Aug. 1 return in a dirt sprint, unless you want to count it as a race that should benefit him. If he duplicates some of his better turf efforts, most notably his April 5 victory in a restricted stakes, he’s one of the deserving favorites here.

◗ Trainer Kirk Ziadie continues to win at a solid clip while rebuilding his stable in the aftermath of his breakup with owner Frank Calabrese in early February, having won with 14 of 38 starters since then.

Bolita Boyz (Last 3 Beyers: 79-84-73)

◗ Trainer Bill White keeps humming along, winning at above-average percentages in categories that apply to this Florida-bred colt making his turf and route debuts.

◗ White has won more than 2,000 races in a career of nearly 40 years.

◗ The top Gulfstream trainers continue to turn to Zayas, who into Thursday led the jockey standings with 37 winners at the meet.