Big and Classy, Dean Delivers clash in Smile Sprint
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Big and Classy and Todo Fino have combined to win their last 11 starts but barring a dead heat something will have to give when the two speedsters take on six rivals, including probable favorite Dean Delivers and defending champion Willy Boi, in Saturday’s $100,000 Smile Sprint at Gulfstream Park.
The Grade 3, six-furlong Smile Sprint is part of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Dozen, which provides the first three finishers a tiered bonus bankroll that can be applied to pre-entry and entry fees for the Breeders’ Cup.
Big and Classy has won all six of his starts in 2023, beginning with a $20,000 conditioned claiming dash over Tapeta on Feb. 1. Claimed for that same price out of a subsequent victory six weeks later by current trainer Bob Dibona, Big and Classy has steadily risen up the class ladder with four more consecutive victories. His current streak consists of four wins on the synthetic track and two on dirt at distances ranging from 5 1/2 to seven furlongs.
“Obviously he’s in rare form and it looks like he can do a lot of different things but I think his best race is at this distance on dirt. That’s what he’s been looking for,” said Dibona. “I like my post position, being on the outside, and I think this race sets up well for him. He should get a stalking trip and hopefully he’ll be in the garden spot if the race ties up a little bit.”
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Todo Fino has won five races in a row dating back to February of 2022 in his native Chile. He is perfect in two starts since joining trainer Amador Sanchez’s barn last season, those victories coming against allowance competition at Del Mar and Santa Anita. He comes into the Smile idle since a game wire-to-wire decision going 6 1/2 furlongs against second-level allowance company at Santa Anita last October.
Todo Fino has been sizzling of late in the morning prepping for his return, including a 45.20 half-mile on May 27.
“The horse needed a little time and now he’s right,” said Sanchez, who also entered another Chilean bred, Figureti, in the Smile. “I wanted to run him a month ago but the race didn’t go, so I waited for this stakes.”
Dean Delivers returns to open company after easily defeating Florida-breds by 3 3/4 lengths in the seven-furlong Big Drama on May 20. Prior to that outing, Dean Delivers held his own with some of the best sprinters in the handicap division here over the winter when finishing second in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector, third in the Grade 3 Fred Hooper, and fourth in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile.
Willy Boi seeks his first win since rallying to a one-length victory in the 2022 Smile for trainer Jorge Delgado. Willy Boi, who finished 10th in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Sprint is winless in six outings since last year’s Smile and has failed to hit the board in each of his last three starts. He most recently checked in a well-beaten fifth in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint at Pimlico on the Preakness undercard.
Starship Renegade has finished first or second in seven of eight starts but proved no match for Dean Delivers when defeated nearly four lengths in the Big Drama.
Outsiders Doc Amster and Spankster complete the lineup.
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