Off big Beyer in comeback, Grande in position for first stakes win in Ghostzapper
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Undefeated at Gulfstream Park and coming off an unwavering performance in his return to the races last month, Grande looks for his first stakes victory in Saturday’s $175,000 Ghostzapper Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Grande, scratched from the Kentucky Derby last May due to a foot bruise, returned from a 10-month layoff in a second-level allowance going a one-turn mile here. Headed and passed by almost a length by Praetor – who was also coming off a layoff – Grande battled back along the rail to win by three-quarters of a length. It was 14 1/2 lengths back to third and the race came back with a 105 Beyer Speed Figure.
It was the third win – all at Gulfstream – from four starts for Grande, whose lone defeat came when he finished second in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Following the Derby scratch, Grande had myriad issues, including colic, which led trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Mike Repole to stop on him for the remainder of 2025.
If his return race was any indication, Grande could be sitting on a big year.
“His last one was a big race, a courageous race coming off the layoff,” Pletcher said. “He got headed and fought back on the rail. He’s another horse who seems to do well at Gulfstream. He’s 3 for 3 here, and now it’s time to step up and see how he does. Like a lot of Curlin’s [progeny], he seems to be getting better as he ages and I believe he should handle the added distance down the road.”
Steal Sunshine had the misfortune of facing Knightsbridge in a pair of graded one-turn mile stakes dominated by that runner earlier this meet. The last time Steal Sunshine ran 1 1/16 miles around two turns, he won an overnight handicap that produced two next-out winners.
“On his best day, he can hang with some good horses,” trainer Robert Dibona said. “Sometimes, he leaves himself a little much work to do but I think he’s coming off a big race.”
Steal Sunshine did finish second to Knightsbridge last time, albeit beaten 11 1/2 lengths. Steal Sunshine gets a switch to Joel Rosario, an excellent finisher who may just fit the late-running Steal Sunshine.
“He wants you take him right to the rail, be 10 out of it and wait and then bring him out and set him down,” Dibona said.
Capital Idea finished second, five lengths behind Pentathlon in a seven-furlong allowance at Tampa. While Pentathlon is running in the seven-furlong Army Mule, Capital Idea stretches back out to a distance at which he won an allowance at Churchill last November.
Forged Steel, a recent allowance winner at Tampa, will scratch to run in the Temperence Hill Saturday at Oaklawn.
Army Mule
Stakes-winning 3-year-olds Owen Almighty and Macho Music both return off lengthy layoffs to make their 4-year-old debuts in Saturday’s $175,000 Army Mule Stakes at seven furlongs.
Owen Almighty, trained by Brian Lynch, won the Tampa Bay Derby last year and then finished a respectable fifth behind Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby. He was well beaten in two stakes to end the year, but was having breathing issues.
Owen Almighty underwent throat surgery since his 12 3/4-length defeat in the Perryville Stakes last fall and Lynch is hoping to see a better version of the horse on Saturday.
“He seems like he’s back on track,” Lynch said. “It seems like it’s been successful, he’s good in the moment.”
Owen Almighty is drawn outside in the 10-horse field and will be ridden by Joel Rosario.
At this time last year, Macho Music won a Florida-bred stakes at Tampa and then upset the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on Kentucky Derby Day. Macho Music ran in two graded stakes at Saratoga before getting time off for bone bruising.
Trainer Rohan Crichton said since Macho Music wasn’t going to make any of the major races last fall, he was given 120 days off before resuming training. Crichton said he was hoping for a softer landing spot for the Macho Music to return in but he’s hoping this race will get him to the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes on Derby Day.
Javier Castellano, who was aboard for the aforementioned victories – both done in front-running fashion – has been working Macho Music, who breaks from post 9. There is plenty of other speed in this field, including Jack’s Promise, winner of the Gulfstream Park Sprint, and Concrete Glory, winner of the Pelican Stakes at Tampa.
“I think Javier would prefer to be the hunter rather than the hunted and being toward the outside give us a little advantage to where we can regulate our own pace,” Crichton said.
Pentathlon, coming off an allowance win at Tampa, and Scotland, unraced since finishing ninth in the Cherokee Mile at Churchill last Nov. 30, would seem to benefit from an expected hot pace.
– additional reporting by Mike Welsch
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