Brooklyn Strong looking for first synthetic win

Brooklyn Strong will have back class in his corner when he meets Tapeta specialist Volcanic in the eighth race Sunday at Gulfstream Park.

The conditioned allowance over a mile and 70 yards on Tapeta carries a claiming option of $62,500. The race drew eight older runners.

Brooklyn Strong won the Grade 2 Remsen in December 2020 at Aqueduct. He’s looking for his first win on a synthetic track on Sunday following an 11th-place finish in the Commentator Stakes on May 29 at Belmont Park.

“The last race, he had a problem in the gate,” trainer Victor Barboza Jr. said. “The horse is very fresh, and he ran good on the Tapeta the last two races at Gulfstream.”

Brooklyn Strong spent his spring in South Florida. He was third at this level in March with a Beyer Speed Figure of 84 and fourth in a $35,000 starter allowance in April with a Beyer of 80. The numbers stack up favorably to the Beyers that Volcanic has been putting up on Tapeta.

Brooklyn Strong also will be back on Lasix on Sunday after racing without the diuretic in stakes protocols for the Commentator.

Leonel Reyes has the mount on the 5-year-old for Mark Schwartz. Brooklyn Strong, who races from off the pace, could get the right setup behind front-runners Boca Boy, Night Jumper, Merlin, and sprint-to-route prospect Spankster.

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Volcanic also figures to be prominent. He has used his natural speed to win three of his last four starts – all on Tapeta at Gulfstream.

Volcanic won back-to-back races over the surface in June, the first against $35,000 claiming rivals and the second in a $35,000 starter allowance. He then ran second in a first-level allowance before clearing that condition one start later, on Aug. 19.

Volcanic earned a Beyer of 86 for the first-level allowance win, and it ranks as the best last-race synthetic-track number in the field Sunday.

Edwin Gonzalez has the mount from post 8. Volcanic, who is 4, is owned by Breeze Easy and is trained by Mark Casse.

Boca Boy, who leads the field in earnings with $433,176, is making his synthetic-track debut with a notable Tomlinson Rating of 431.

Kygo is moving back to Tapeta off a runner-up finish in a two-other-than allowance on turf at Monmouth Park. In his one synthetic-track start, he was third on the Tapeta at Gulfstream.

In the seventh race, David’s Rose will attempt to turn the tables on Li Li Bear. The $25,000 starter allowance is for fillies and mares over five furlongs on Tapeta.

Li Li Bear is a winner of three of her last four starts, her most recent a $20,000 starter allowance by a neck over David’s Rose on Aug. 20. Big Band Luzziann, who was third, and Rapturous, who was fourth, also return Sunday.

Reyes has the mount on Li Li Bear for Vegso Racing Stable and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. She will break from post 7 in the field of eight Sunday.

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