Chess Master far from only speed in overnight handicap

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The prospects for a hotly contested pace should give handicappers plenty to ponder in Saturday’s main event at Gulfstream Park, a $60,000 overnight handicap to be decided at five furlongs on the turf. The 48-hour forecast called for a 50-60 percent chance of rain over the local area on Saturday.

Chess Master will go postward the 120-pound topweight in a field of 10, all of whom will be trying to get in one more start over the local course before turf racing goes on a six- to seven-month sabbatical here starting next week.

Chess Master figures to be among those prompting the early issue if he breaks cleaner than he did in his two most recent starts. The 7-year-old has registered 12 of his 13 victories on grass, with his latest tally his best yet, a gate-to-wire 4 1/4-length triumph in the Turf Dash at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 18. He earned a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure while winning the race for the second straight year. He was subsequently claimed for $62,500 by trainer Mike Maker here on April 2, and ran fifth April 29 in a race similar to Saturday’s.

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If Chess Master is to see the lead on Saturday, he’s going to have to come away running and be ready to show off his best early foot in a lineup that includes such speedballs as Full Disclosure, Thatsafactjack, Warrior’s Pride, Uncle B, and, perhaps most notably, Hope in Him.

Hope in Him has been in front after the opening call in his last nine starts, five of which ended in victory. Hope in Him would be the major beneficiary if the rains come and the race is washed over to the Tapeta track, with all five of those wins having come over the synthetic surface. He is winless in three starts on grass.

A suicidal pace battle would prove an advantage for Eamonn and perhaps Xy Speed.

Eamonn will shorten up to five furlongs for the first time off a steady diet of two-turn races on both turf and Tapeta, and figures to be coming best of all at the end while in receipt of a four-pound weight concession from Chess Master. Eamonn’s five wins came on grass, and he will return to his preferred surface off an even fifth-place finish going a mile and 70 yards over the synthetic track. He was a three-time winner and finished second in a stakes on grass in 2022.

Xy Speed was a come-from-behind winner against claiming opposition here on April 7. The 84 Beyer Figure he received is the highest last-out Beyer number on turf for any member of this field. Xy Speed ran well but proved no match when finishing a distant second behind Chess Master at Tampa in the 2022 Turf Dash.

Completing the field are the stakes-placed Capture the Time, second behind Xy Speed in their previous encounter, and Omaha City.

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