Casse runners have best Beyers, switch to turf
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – For those who like a real handicapping challenge, Thursday’s featured sixth race at Gulfstream Park should fit the bill. The $86,000 entry-level allowance and optional-claiming event brings together a large and very well-matched group of relatively lightly raced 3-year-old fillies scheduled to go 7 1/2 furlongs on the turf.
The race is the first of two allowances on a card that also features a $54,000 statebred contest to be decided at 1 1/16 miles over the Tapeta course.
A field of 12 was entered for race 6 although the one who may have proven the filly to beat, Isabel Alexandra, will scratch according to her trainer, Gustavo Delgado, after finishing a very troubled sixth in Saturday’s Ginger Brew Stakes.
Mark Casse stablemates Scottish Symphony and Firing Bullets own the best Beyer Speed Figures in the lineup with both having recorded their top numbers over the synthetic track at Woodbine.
Scottish Symphony, stakes-placed in her career debut, earned a 74 Beyer for her three-quarter-length maiden victory going 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 19 in her 2-year-old finale. She has every right to transfer that form to turf being a half to Fahan Mura, a Group 3 winner with more than $782,000 in earnings on grass.
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Firing Bullets is already proven on turf, having won her maiden in the Woodbine Cares on grass at five furlongs on Oct. 8 with a 72 Beyer. She returned to finish third against males in the Display Stakes while earning a figure one point higher over the synthetic track four weeks later. She too has a turf pedigree, being the younger sister of I Get It, who captured the Sanibel Island and finished third in the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride here in 2021.
In addition to Scottish Symphony, three other members of the field – Metaphysical, Mohawk Trail, and Maroon Bells – are coming off maiden wins. Metaphysical posted a half-length triumph on the Tapeta here in her 2-year-old finale, Mohawk Trail was a game head winner after contesting all the pair going a mile over the local turf course on Dec. 4, and Maroon Bells captured her career debut going five furlongs in a race switched from grass to Tapeta less than four weeks earlier.
Pallotta Sisters also figures to receive considerable backing after closing out her juvenile campaign finishing seventh, beaten less than four lengths, despite a very eventful trip in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante at Del Mar. Pallotta Sisters was a game maiden winner over soft ground around two turns in her previous start at Delaware.
State of Mind also comes into the race graded stakes-tested, having finished fourth in the Grade 3 Mazarine at Woodbine in her third and final start at 2.
◗ J P Hellish, already a two-time winner of the condition, looms the one to beat among the eight Florida-breds aligned for the eighth event on the card. A popular item at the claim box of late, J P Hellish remains eligible for the race by virtue of the fact she will be entered back under a $20,000 tag after defeating the same kind by 1 1/4 lengths first off the claim by trainer Monica McGoey for the same price five weeks earlier.
Timmy M. also won this condition over the Tapeta during the fall session and will have blinkers removed Thursday after finishing a disappointing eighth against similar on Dec. 10. The veteran, a six-time winner, figures to receive extra support at the windows with Irad Ortiz Jr. taking the mount for the first time.
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