Dance d'Oro has speed to wire Rampart in Rainbow 6 opener
Ahead of the featured Fort Lauderdale on turf, three of the four supporting stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park will be run over the main track, all of them as links in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (races 6-11).
The $100,000 Rampart leads off the Rainbow as race 6, followed in short order by a couple of Grade 3 events, the $100,000 Sugar Swirl (race 8) and $150,000 Harlan’s Holiday (race 9). Here’s a quick rundown:
Rampart
If the Whisper Hill homebred Dance d’Oro reverts to a two-back romp in which she earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure, the other fillies and mares in this one-mile race might all be running for second. As the apparent lone speed in a field of six, Dance d’Oro and jockey Emisael Jaramillo will be an elusive catch if she runs back to that Sept. 24 allowance in which she never allowed the opposition in the hunt.
If, however, Dance d’Oro is unable to leave them in her wake as the likely favorite, then this race could go to Queen Nekia, Dream Marie, or even Don’t Get Khozy.
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Queen Nekia probably needed her last race following a 12-week layoff, while Dream Marie came to hand for Matthew Williams over the summer and Don’t Get Khozy has finished first or second a remarkable 20 times from 31 local starts, albeit usually at lower class levels.
This is the 43rd running of the Rampart, which was won last December in stakes-record time (1:35.03) by Letruska, who surely soon will be voted an Eclipse Award winner as the top filly-mare dirt runner of 2021. The Rampart is no longer graded this year after having been a Grade 2 or Grade 3 since 1986.
Sugar Swirl
A couple of 4-year-old fillies exiting Churchill Downs races are rematched in the six-furlong Sugar Swirl, with Center Aisle having reached full stride this year after being defeated twice last year by Frank’s Rockette.
Center Aisle (post 5, Luis Saez) will be looking to stay unbeaten in three 2021 starts when she attempts to turn the tables on Frank’s Rockette (post 3, Junior Alvarado), whose recent efforts haven’t been quite as productive as when she won the Grade 3 Victory Ride and Grade 2 Prioress last year with Center Aisle behind her. At 9-5, Frank’s Rockette is a slight program favorite over Center Aisle (2-1).
If a mild upset is forthcoming, maybe it will be pulled off by Bronx Beauty, although the 6-year-old gray stalwart will need to be at her best following a 3 1/2-month layoff.
This is the 40th Sugar Swirl, which is named for the Stronach Stables homebred who earned nearly $800,000 from a 23-race campaign that ended in 2008.
Harlan’s Holiday
Fearless, winner of the Grade 2 Gulfstream Mile in February, will be looking to improve on a much-needed last start when he faces a couple of worthy rivals in Mighty Heart and South Bend in the 1 1/16-mile Harlan’s Holiday.
Fearless (post 6, Saez) was returning from a layoff of more than six months for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher when he finished second as the favorite in a Nov. 21 allowance at Gulfstream. With that one under his belt, and with a return to one of his more typical Beyers, the 5-year-old gelding is eligible to make amends for that mildly disappointing return.
Mighty Heart, the one-eyed winner of the 2020 Queen’s Plate, will be winding up another outstanding season. He exits three straight graded races over Tapeta. South Bend will be looking to sustain momentum from a gutsy last-out allowance score at Churchill.
Six older horses make up the lineup for the 11th Harlan’s Holiday, which is named for the 2002 Florida Derby winner who earned more than $3.6 million as the first major standout campaigned by Starlight Racing.