Diamond Bachelor has pace and class edge
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Diamond Bachelor should go to the lead and not look back when he faces five rivals, including stablemate Bashart, in Thursday’s $44,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. The race will be decided at a mile on the turf under optional-claiming conditions and goes as the second event on a 10-race program.
Diamond Bachelor, a two-time stakes winner here last year, is coming off another top effort when second behind the odds-on Keystoneforvictory going 12 furlongs under mid-level starter-handicap conditions on May 29. His performance was flattered when third-place finisher Mystic Sky upset the Soldier’s Dancer Stakes on Saturday. In his previous start, Diamond Bachelor forced the pace and finished a tiring sixth in the Grade 3 Appleton here.
As if Diamond Bachelor didn’t have enough of an edge considering his speed and class advantage, trainer Patrick Biancone also named the double-bug rider Nick Figueroa, which means he will also be in receipt of seven pounds from the rest of the field.
:: Add a 5-card pack of PPs and save 55¢/card!
Bashart, graded-stakes-placed with trainer Michael Matz earlier in his career, makes his second start since transferring to Biancone’s barn this season. The 6-year-old Bashart, who finished sixth under similar conditions on May 4 in his only outing this year, remains winless since his juvenile campaign.
J R’s Holiday, who was graded-stakes-placed at 3, will try his luck in a new barn on Thursday, having been transferred to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. since finishing seventh, 2 1/4 lengths behind Bashart, nearly two months earlier. The stretch-running J R’s Holiday will try to snap an eight-racing losing streak dating to his victory in the Kitten’s Joy here in January 2016.
Spring Up, Semblance of Order, and Cut to Order complete the field.
Thursday’s program, which will also include an allowance race for statebred fillies on the turf, kicks off with a carryover of nearly $42,000 in the Super Hi 5 pool in the day’s opening event.
