City of Weston entered for tag in sprint feature
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Now that the NFL season is finished, operators of other sports enterprises have your attention again on Sunday afternoons. That seems to be the logic behind Gulfstream Park offering a 13-race extravaganza, replete with five allowance races, on the first Sunday this side of Super Bowl XLIX.
Foremost among those allowances is race 7, a $52,000, third-level allowance with a $100,000 claiming option. City of Weston, an earner of almost $480,000, and C. Zee, the runner-up to Work All Week in the Phoenix Stakes last fall at Keeneland, are the principals in a field of seven older horses going six furlongs in that midcard highlight.
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The other allowances on an outstanding program are carded as races 4, 9, 11, and 12. All of them are $48,000, first-level races ascribed in a variety of categories.
First post Sunday is noon Eastern, 30 minutes earlier than normal. The nominal feature is set for 2:58, and the 13th race for 5:58.
After Sunday, Gulfstream goes dark for two days before another five-day week resumes Wednesday with a 12:30 post.
KEY CONTENDERS
City of Weston (Last 3 Beyers: 93-67-71)
◗ This hard-knocking 5-year-old horse already has started 36 times in three-plus seasons of racing and is one of two entered for the $100,000 claiming option (with Ruble) after having exhausted this third-level restriction long ago.
◗ Following a four-race skid, he suddenly got back on track in his latest when upsetting slightly lesser company Jan. 14 in what seems a wake-up call for his opposition.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 City of Weston. Trainer Antonia Sano is 33-1-1-7 with a $0.32 ROI over the past five years in dirt sprints at Gulfstream with last-out winners. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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C. Zee (Last 3 Beyers: 97-85-95)
◗ He can stake a sideways claim to fame now that Work All Week is a Breeders’ Cup winner, having won the BC Sprint four weeks after the Phoenix.
◗ This homebred colt is making his 4-year-old debut with five local works under his belt and draws the favorable outside post with Edgard Zayas named to ride.
◗ His return to the care of Stanley Gold is fairly typical for Jacks or Better Farm, which sometimes shuttles some of its top horses between Gold and Nick Zito, depending on the time of year.
Tell Tale Friend (Last 3 Beyers: 94-94-64)
◗ This fairly versatile 7-year-old looms the outside speed for White Wabbit Wacing and Jorge Navarro, the owner-trainer team that won back-to-back races here Thursday and continues to be a force with older horses in the allowance and claiming ranks.
Ruble (Last 3 Beyers: 83-96-85)
◗ Claimed for $62,500 out of a turf sprint last month by Brendan Walsh, this gray gelding probably does his best work on the main track and would seem to fit well with this brand.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Master Blender. Trainer Kirk Ziadie is 24-12-4-0 with a $2.38 ROI over the past two years in dirt sprints in the second start off a layoff at Gulfstream Park. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan