Brown holds strong hand in Honey Fox, Herecomesthebride, The Very One
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A threesome of Grade 3 turf races for the female set will be showcased on the loaded Fountain of Youth card Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
The one-mile Honey Fox (Race 11, post 4:05 p.m. Eastern) is the last of that trio and serves as the leadoff leg in a late pick four that ends with the Fountain of Youth. Slated for earlier in the day is the 1 3/8-mile The Very One (Race 6, 1:27), which like the Honey Fox is for fillies and mares. The one-mile Herecomesthebride (Race 9, 3:01) for 3-year-old fillies will kick off the Rainbow 6, which will have a mandatory payout Sunday.
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Here’s the lowdown:
Honey Fox
Trainer Chad Brown has utterly dominated the North American filly-mare turf ranks over the last decade-plus, and once again the four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer appears poised for a very productive year in this niche. In the Honey Fox, he sends out Faith in Humanity and Speak of the Devil, both of whom had abbreviated campaigns last year.
“I am cautiously optimistic that both of these fillies will have good seasons,” Brown said. “I just want to keep them healthy.”
Faith in Humanity, with Joel Rosario riding from post 1, and Speak of the Devil, who breaks from post 3 under Irad Ortiz Jr., return from long layoffs. They’re sure to be among the favorites in a lineup of 11 in the 38th running of the $150,000 Honey Fox after flashing big potential in 2022.
Faith in Humanity, now 4, went to the sidelines after winning the Grade 3 Pebbles for 3-year-old fillies over the Aqueduct turf in September, while the 6-year-old Speak of the Devil has been idle since undergoing surgery for a minor injury following a defeat in the Grade 1 Just a Game last June. Her only prior U.S. race was a doozy, as she got a 98 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard last May at Churchill Downs.
“She is back and looks fabulous,” Brown said of Speak of the Devil.
Maybe the opponent with the best chance to temporarily derail the Brown juggernaut is White Frost (post 4, Junior Alvarado), who posted a stylish win here in a Jan. 26 turf allowance when returning from a 14-month-plus layoff for Bill Mott.
“She’s cut out to be a nice filly,” Mott said.
Other fringe players in a deep cast include Princess Theorem, Fast as Flight, and Sweet Dani Girl, each a last-out winner in lesser spots over the local turf.
Herecomesthebride
Cairo Consort, already a winner of the Ginger Brew in January and the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant in February, will be looking to take full advantage of Gulfstream’s 3-year-old filly stakes program when Irad Ortiz Jr. climbs back aboard for the $200,000 Herecomesbride.
Cairo Consort was particularly good when she overcame an awful start in the Sweetest Chant.
“I thought she was really impressive,” said her trainer, Todd Pletcher. “I really gave her no chance after she blew the break. She just threw her head at the wrong moment when they sprung the gate. We’ve done some gate-schooling with her since that race and she’s been perfect.”
Cairo Consort will break from post 7 in a field of 12 in the 36th Herecomesthebride. The Brown-trained Anna Karenine (post 1, Tyler Gaffalione) and Revalita (post 6, Jose Ortiz) perhaps are her top threats. Like so many other Brown stars, both are French imports whose overseas form suggests unrealized potential.
A sleeper making her grass debut is American Rockette (post 2, Junior Alvarado), who was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and then ran seventh in the Grade 2 Golden Rod at Churchill in late November. She is by American Pharoah, whose tenure as a sire has been marked more by success on turf than on dirt, and her trainer, Mott, has been eager to switch surfaces with her.
“She’s got a long, powerful stride,” he said.
The Very One
There’s that Brown fellow again. Mylady and Virginia Joy, both bred Germany, and Higher Truth, bred in Ireland, represent Brown among a field of 10 in the $150,000 The Very One.
Virginia Joy (post 10) is the defending champion in this three-turn race, having rallied to win the 2022 running as a 4-5 favorite under Jose Ortiz. This time, Irad Ortiz Jr. has the call, while Brown will give Jose Ortiz a leg up on Higher Truth (post 7). Edgard Zayas rides Mylady out of post 4.
Virginia Joy was no factor when eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last fall, but she was probably a bit overmatched anyway and was dismissed at 18-1. She won four of her eight previous U.S. starts, including a pair of Grade 2 victories. Her Beyers have ranged from 91 to 100 in all nine of her races on this continent, and that promises to make her a solid favorite here following a recent series of workouts at Payson Park, especially with Irad Ortiz Jr. riding.
Higher Truth, 5, won an allowance race last July at Belmont Park in her only start since October 2021. Mylady ran forwardly in the E.P. Taylor at Woodbine last fall before fading to sixth. That is her only start since coming from Germany to North America.
As for the non-Brown contingent, the British-bred Transient (post 6, Tyler Gaffalione) enters off a runner-up finish with a 90 Beyer in the La Prevoyante here Jan. 28 going 1 1/2 miles. That race was won by Personal Best, who was withheld from this spot by Shug McGaughey to await the Orchid on April 1.
Transient’s trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr., said “She tries hard and likes these longer distances. She’s going to need to improve again, but we feel like she could.”
This is the 35th The Very One, named for the Helen Polinger standout who won 22 races and raced from 1977-81.
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