Curlin's Approval stays home to prep in Barely Even Handicap

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There are many roads that lead to the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 3-4 at Del Mar. Among those less taken is the Barely Even Handicap, one of four $50,000 handicap races that will help close the Gulfstream Park summer meeting Sunday.

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Racing on the south Florida circuit switches to Gulfstream Park West for eight weeks beginning Wednesday.

Happy Alter, the owner, breeder, and now trainer of record for Curlin’s Approval, cited Hurricane Irma as one of the main reasons he’s chosen to keep his Grade 2 winner home for her final prep for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

“This is home for me and home for the horse,” said Alter, who sold an interest in Curlin’s Approval this year to Bridlewood Farm. “We lost a lot of training time during the hurricane. That’s why, with the goal being the Breeders’ Cup, we wanted to have a prep race at home.”

Curlin’s Approval has had an up-and-down campaign this year. She won the Grade 2 Royal Delta, Grade 2 Princess Rooney, and Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie this year but also turned in disappointing performances in the Grade 2 Inside Information, Grade 3 Matron, and, most recently, the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga, where she finished sixth, 8 1/2 lengths behind the victorious By the Moon.

“The race at Saratoga, there [were] a lot of problems coming out of the gate, so we’ve got to throw that race out,” Alter said. “The filly that was supposed to be the very best in the whole country, Paulassilverlining, she had the same problem that day, and we both finished back together.”

Curlin’s Approval is expected to be an odds-on favorite in the seven-furlong Barely Even while toting the high weight of 123 pounds, including jockey Edgard Zayas.

“It’s a prep race, but a stakes race is a stakes race,” Alter said. “The other horses that are in there have earned their right to be in the race. I don’t know if some of them got to get more training in than us, depending on where they went for the hurricane, but it’s the best thing that we could do.”

Money Or Love is already a two-time stakes winner this season, having captured the Musical Romance and Added Elegance, both restricted races at seven furlongs. Money Or Love will turn back to perhaps her most effective distance after finishing fourth, beaten nearly six lengths, while facing open company going a mile in her last start Sept. 16.

Lirica, Savingtime, She Takes Heart, Rashette, and Concealedwithakiss, complete the field.

◗ The Barely Even is the females’ counterpart to the Alabama Jack’s Handicap, which features a wide-open field of nine older male sprinters going seven furlongs.

Hy Riverside was assigned the top weight of 120 pounds despite having not run since May and not won since capturing the Sunshine Millions Classic going 1 1/8 miles Jan. 21.

Abounding Legacy, second in the Perfect Season overnight stakes at a mile just two weeks ago, is among the other key contenders, along with Splash Rules and Coronado Again, who finished first and third, less than a length a part, in the six-furlong Groomstick Handicap on Sept. 3.

◗ The Bull and Whistle Handicap is so wide open that only three pounds separate co-highweights Diamond Bachelor and Chepstow from the lightweights in a field of nine older males slated to go 1 1/16 miles over the main track.

Diamond Bachelor has done the bulk of his racing this year on grass but placed in a stakes on dirt during the championship meeting over the winter. Chepstow has won four of his last five starts, with the loss being a second-place finish behind Chiseled more than six months ago.

◗ Extravagant Kid, the upset winner of the Tamiami Handicap when returning to grass here two weeks ago, the speedy R Limo Joe, and Successful Native top the field of six in the Green Parrot Handicap, scheduled for five furlongs on turf. There was rain in the forecast for the local area throughout the weekend.