Cibelli has legitimate shots in three races

Trainer Jane Cibelli is accustomed to spending Memorial Day weekend by the Jersey Shore. While beaches will be open in New Jersey over the weekend, Monmouth Park remains closed, with its opening day having been pushed back from Saturday to July 4 owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

Thus, Cibelli will be at Gulfstream Park on Saturday with several runners on the 11-race program, including contenders in the two allowance/optional-claiming co-features that end the card.

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In race 10, Cibelli sends out the uncoupled entry of Mai Ty One On and Coop Tries Harder in a five-furlong turf sprint. Mai Ty One On is entered for the $62,500 claiming price, while Coop Tries Harder will run under the second-level allowance condition.

They both will have to find a way by the speedy 10-year-old gelding Pay Any Price, who owns the Gulfstream turf-course record (53.61 seconds) for five furlongs, set in 2017. Pay Any Price beat Mai Ty One On by just a neck in this same condition Jan. 5, but has lost his last two, albeit against tougher.

“He’s pretty tough, that old dude,” Cibelli said of Pay Any Price.

In evaluating her two charges, Cibelli said Mai Ty One On “is not what I’d call a true five-eighths turf horse.”

However, if Pay Any Price is unable to shake free from some of the other speed in the field, Mai Ty One On figures to be coming late under Joe Bravo.

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Coop Tries Harder may be the better of the two Cibelli runners in this spot. Since returning from a six-month layoff in March, Coop Tries Harder has run two solid races, including a last-out neck defeat to Tiger Blood, who is 8 for 8 sprinting over Gulfstream Park’s turf.

Coop Tries Harder was chasing three wide last time. On March 27, Coop Tries Harder finished third in a race won by Maniacal. Coop Tries Harder bobbled at the break and “then got into a little bit of a box around the turn,” Cibelli said.

“You can’t afford to do that going five-eighths,” she said. “He’s training really, really well.”

Miguel Vasquez has the call from post 5.

The key to Cibelli’s chances could hinge on whether Fully Loaded, Frenchmen Street, or Sturgeon has enough speed to run with Pay Any Price early.

In the Saturday, finale, Cibelli brings Sun Summers back to the races off an 11-month layoff in a first-level allowance for Florida-bred fillies and mares. Cibelli said Sun Summers got hurt when second in a starter allowance at Belmont in June, but has come back well.

“If she gets the trip, I think she’ll be very tough to beat in there,” Cibelli said.

In race 5, a $12,500 to $10,500 claimer on the turf, Cibelli has both The Mighty Judge and Mr. Discretionary. The Mighty Judge is coming off a victory in a restricted $12,500 claiming event here April 25, while Mr. Discretionary returns from a layoff.

“He was a tired horse coming down here, and in the winter it’s so tough that we said let’s kick him out and give him a breather,” Cibelli said of Mr. Discretionary. “He’s training really, really well.”