Bullards Alley well-suited for Jerkens distance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With stakes opportunities few and far between for long-winded turf specialists, the well-traveled Grade 1 winner Bullards Alley will make his first appearance at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, taking on seven rivals in the $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes. The two-mile Allen Jerkens is the richest of five grass stakes on an 11-race program that begins at noon Eastern.

:: CLOCKER REPORT: Get workout grades and comments for the Gulfstream Park Championship meet

Gulfstream will be the ninth different track at which Bullards Alley has appeared during his 12-race 2017 campaign, which was highlighted by his 10 3/4-length romp over soft ground in Woodbine’s Grade 1 Canadian International on Oct. 15. That performance earned Bullards Alley a starting berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and he finished sixth of 13 while beaten less than four lengths by race winner Talismanic.

“You have to hunt races for these types of horses,” said trainer Tim Glyshaw. “There are very few of them.”

The Allen Jerkens will mark the second time Glyshaw has gotten to run Bullards Alley two miles this season. He finished sixth behind Red Cardinal in the Grade 3 Belmont Gold Cup at the distance on June 9.

“He loves everything a mile and one-half and over,” said Glyshaw, who trains Bullards Alley for Wayne Spalding and Faron McCubbins. “He really hadn’t caught any breaks during the year. That’s why he was winless going into the Canadian. I think it’s safer to say he really does excel on a softer course like they had that day. To me, a good run would have been to hit the board in the International. When he got up by five [lengths], I knew they weren’t going to catch him, and that’s when I really started to get excited. I’m not one to jump up and down, but it was the first Grade 1 we’ve ever won and it was a really, really cool experience.”

Paco Lopez will have the mount on Bullards Alley, who carries high weight of 123 pounds under the allowance conditions of the race.

Bullards Alley isn’t the only long-distance specialist who has come a long way for the Allen Jerkens. Infobedad ships in from his Santa Anita base for trainer Neil Drysdale off a second-place finish behind Destin on Breeders’ Cup weekend in the Grade 2, 1 3/4-mile Marathon. Infobedad, claimed for $62,500 out of his previous start, received a career-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure for the Marathon.

:: Get PPs and analysis for Saturday's card at Santa Anita

Gold Shield has yet to run beyond 1 1/2 miles, but he, too, enters the Allen Jerkens off a career-best effort, an easy 6 1/4-length triumph under high-priced optional-claiming conditions at Aqueduct that earned him a 100 Beyer Speed Figure. Gold Shield shipped down from New York earlier this month to prepare for the Allen Jerkens, and has turned in impressive-looking works over the local turf course each of the last two weekends.

Infinite Wisdom figures to set the pace breaking from the rail under Jose Ortiz. He will try to duplicate his wire-to-wire victory in the 1 5/8-mile John’s Call Stakes this summer at Saratoga for trainer Brian Lynch.

Run Time, English Illusion, Honovi, and El Kurdo complete the field.