The classy Jesus' Team returns from 15-month layoff in allowance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There will be plenty of questions to answer when handicapping Saturday’s very attractive $52,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park, including what to do with the multiple Grade 1-placed Jesus’ Team off a lengthy layoff and with the South American Group 1 winner Super Corinto in his U.S. debut.

The headliner lured a field of 10 3-year-olds and up to go one mile on the main track, including last-out stakes winner Clapton.

Jesus’ Team, 5, has not started since finishing a distant eighth and last in the Alydar Stakes at Saratoga 15 months ago. The former claimer rose to stardom for trainer Jose D’Angelo during his 3-year-old campaign and early at 4. Among his most notable performances were a third-place finish in the 2020 Preakness and second-place efforts behind Horse of the Year Knicks Go in both the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland and Pegasus World Cup Invitational here in January 2021.

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Jesus’ Team’s problems since the Alydar include surgery to repair a small chip in his left front ankle, a bout of salmonella, and, most recently, laminitis in both front feet.

After recuperating at Magdalena Farm in Lexington, Ky., Jesus’ Team returned to D’Angelo earlier this year at Palm Meadows, where he’s been brought along slowly. He has had 14 workouts since mid-July, the most recent four furlongs in 48.20 seconds on Oct. 29.

“I’m very happy to run him again after all the problems that he had,” D’Angelo said. “It’s been a long, long trip for him. He’s a warrior. I’m very happy with the way he’s training. I always said If he’s training good, we’ll go forward. For me, this horse means everything. He put me on the map in this country. He let me show my ability as a trainer. He brought me to all the big races and always gave all of his heart in each race. I owe a lot to him.”

Jesus’ Team will break from the rail in his return with Miguel Vasquez aboard for the first time.

Super Corinto rallied to a 1 1/4-length victory over O’Connor in a Group 1 stakes at the Hipodromo in Chile on April 30. That avenged a pair of second-place finishes behind that nemesis in his two previous outings.

O’Connor flattered Super Corinto by winning his U.S. debut here last month by six lengths under conditions similar to Saturday’s main event. He earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure.

Super Corinto, a 4-year-old son of Super Saver, has worked forwardly since joining trainer Amador Sanchez’s barn and will race on Lasix for the first time. He’ll be ridden by Hector Berrios, who guided Blue Stripe to a second-place finish behind Malathaat in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff one week ago.

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Clapton comes off the best outing of his 14-race career, a come-from-behind one-length decision in the Gil Campbell Memorial Handicap when trying a one-turn mile for the first time here Oct. 1. He earned a lifetime-high 95 Beyer Figure.

Even with the blinkers coming off, Wind of Change is still likely the one to catch while trying the distance for the first time since finishing a tiring sixth in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile during winter 2021. A former member of the Sanchez barn, he is one of two horses leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. will send out in the race along with Collaborate. Collaborate also will have blinkers removed following a two-race experiment with them that included a second-place finish in the seven-furlong Sir Shackleton here in April.

Other notable members of the field include the multiple stakes winner Noble Drama, a well beaten third behind Clapton in the Gil Campbell, and Sole Volante, a distant third behind O’Connor on Oct. 16.

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