D'Angelo hoping to strike with another layoff runner
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Last Friday, trainer Jose D’Angelo brought the 3-year-old filly Frida back to the races off a seven-month layoff and she roared to a 5 3/4-length maiden victory at Gulfstream Park.
Thursday, D’Angelo is set to bring the 3-year-old colt Boundfortrouble back to the races off a similar freshening in a first-level allowance race at Gulfstream hoping for the same result. Boundfortrouble, unraced since a maiden triumph in his second start on June 7, drew the outside post in a seven-horse field of 3-year-olds set to run five furlongs over the Tapeta surface.
D’Angelo has racked up 16 wins during the first month of the Gulfstream winter meet, with 10 coming over the Tapeta surface. Four of D’Angelo’s wins have come with horses returning from a layoff of 161 days or more. Boundfortrouble’s layoff is 216 days.
Boundfortouble, a son of World of Trouble, debuted over Gulfstream’s Tapeta last May, flashing good early speed and fighting with the more experienced Heat before giving way to that one and getting beat 1 1/2 lengths. He did finish 9 1/4 lengths clear of third-place The Brigade, who came back to win his next start.
Luis Saez rides Boundfortrouble for the first time.
Gate to Wire, trained by Todd Pletcher, will likely go favored based on him dropping in class from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, where he finished 10th of 12. Gate to Wire, a son of Munnings, won his debut on turf by 1 3/4 lengths at Saratoga before finishing second to stablemate Mentee in the Grade 3 Futurity at Aqueduct. Pletcher added blinkers to Gate to Wire for the Breeders’ Cup, but the early pace was quick and he couldn’t really keep up.
Turbulent Force was a debut winner on turf at Gulfstream on Dec. 6, winning a five-furlong dash by a neck. He appeared to ease up somewhat when he struck the front, but he dug back in to get the victory.
“Tyler [Gaffalione] seemed to indicate that, who knows?” trainer George Weaver said when asked about the horse perhaps idling. “We’re running against winners first time, but the horse is training well, came back with a nice work. We’ll find out how good he wants to get.”
Weaver said his preference is to stay on turf but did note that the horse worked well over synthetic when he was catalogued, but ultimately withdrawn, from the 2-year-old-in-training sale at Ocala last April.
Nolan Ramsey has the uncoupled pair of Torch Is Passed and Happyflyer in this field. Torch Is Passed went 2 for 2 over the Tapeta surface at Gulfstream last fall, though the first win was for maiden $16,000 claiming. He came back to win a starter on Dec. 12.
Happyflyer has made his first five starts on dirt, winning a maiden $40,000 claimer at Churchill Downs in June.
Into Diamonds, trained by Mark Casse, was a debut winner on turf at Keeneland last April before finishing second in the Victoria Stakes over Woodbine’s synthetic surface in July.
Back Em Up finished third over the synthetic surface on debut last August but has done his better running on dirt for trainer Eddie Plesa.
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