D'Amato brings top contenders for Silky Sullivan, Campanile
A pair of $100,000 turf stakes for 3-year-old California-breds on Sunday will help Golden Gate Fields conclude its Turf Festival. Both the Silky Sullivan, for both sexes, and the Campanile, for fillies, will be run at one mile.
Trainer Phil D’Amato sends out a runner for each stakes – Tough It Out in the Silky Sullivan and Allsquare in the Campanile – and both could wind up favored.
Tough It Out is the lone runner in the Silky Sullivan who has won on turf and is the lone stakes winner, having captured the 6 1/2-furlong Echo Eddie at Santa Anita in his last start. His turf victory came at Sunday’s one-mile distance.
Tough It Out’s main opponent is Gold Rush Dancer, who finished second in the Echo Eddie. He won the Gottstein Futurity at Emerald Downs and was third at Golden Gate Fields in the Golden Nugget last year.
Four of the nine runners entered in the Silky Sullivan will be making their turf debut. Each of the other five has run only once on grass.
Tough It Out, a son of Grazen, is “really coming around,” D’Amato said.
“He’s got a lot going for him,” D’Amato said. “He’s versatile and runs well whether he’s stalking or coming from behind. He breezed well for this.”
Trainer Billy Morey sends out Midnight Ming and Rye in the Silky Sullivan. A runner-up sprinting in his last three starts, Midnight Ming will be making his turf debut. The Midnight Lute colt is the lone member of the field with two Beyer Speed Figures in the 80s, one coming when he lost by a neck in his last start and one in his lone try around two turns. Morey said he believes that Midnight Ming’s closing style will translate nicely to turf.
Rye, a fast-finishing third in his turf debut in his last start, was a last-minute addition to the Silky Sullivan field, Morey said.
Record Highs, who trailed three of his Sunday rivals in the Echo Eddie, ran second in an allowance for statebreds at Santa Anita in his lone turf start.
The fillies bring more turf experience into the Campanile, although four of the 11 will be making their turf debut.
D’Amato bred and co-owns Allsquare, who has improved in her last three starts, all at one mile on turf at Santa Anita. She ran third, then second, then first by a neck March 31.
Three of her Sunday rivals defeated Allsquare down south: Hacktivism, who beat her by three-quarters of a length to win a maiden race March 10; Starlite Style, second while Allsquare was third Feb. 7; and Cheekaboo, who won going a mile on the main track at Santa Anita in January, with Allsquare third.
Hope’s Love, a full sister to California Chrome, is a maiden who makes her first turf start in the Campanile.
The top Northern California hope is The Spiral Jetter, who has a win and two seconds since stretching out to a mile. A daughter of Don’tsellmeshort, she has never raced on grass.
“Turf could help her,” said trainer Andy Mathis. “But for her, the opportunity to run strictly against Cal-breds is something we want to do with her.”