Distance will separate contenders from pretenders in allowance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Finding the horses who have the ability to stay a mile and one-half will be the key to unlocking the mystery that is Wednesday’s $52,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. The race will be decided on the turf and drew a field of 11 fillies and mares with various degrees of long-distance experience.

Only Whatdoesasharksay has ever started at 1 1/2 miles, having finished an even fifth under similar conditions here nearly a year ago. Both she and She Throws Heat went 1 7/16 miles on Jan. 14, with She Throws Heat finishing third as the 9-5 favorite and Whatdoesasharksay another length farther back in fourth behind race winner Crystalle.

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Whatdoesasharksay has won just once in a dozen starts, that victory coming almost 18 months earlier going a mile and one-quarter over the Belmont Park turf. Whatdoesasharksay figures to improve off her last outing, her first start since last summer at Saratoga. She is a half-sister to Heart to Heart, a multiple Grade 1 winner whose primary success came at a mile but who did capture the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf going 1 1/8 miles here three years ago.

She Throws Heat is among the least-experienced members of the field, having run just six times. She, too, has posted just a single victory, that coming under a $75,000 claiming tag last fall, also at Belmont. By Honor Code, she is out of the mare Artisanal, who won three of seven career starts but was most effective at distances ranging between a mile and 1 1/16 miles.

Breeding aficionados figure to throw a lot of support to Margaret’s Joy, who exits arguably her best performance, a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Endeavour going a mile and one-sixteenth at Tampa Bay Downs. She received a lifetime-best 83 Beyer Speed Figure. Margaret’s Joy is by English Channel and is a full sister to Spooky Channel, who won the Grade 3, 1 1/2-mile W.L. McKnight Stakes here last year.

Diamond Sparkles has yet to win in eight U.S. starts or go beyond a mile and one-sixteenth, although she should have plenty of stamina being by War Front out of Diamondsandrubies, winner of the 10-furlong, Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes going 1 1/4 miles for trainer Aidan O’Brien.

Valletta and Lido Key each bring two-race winning streaks into the main event.

Valletta needed nine starts to finally break her maiden against $40,000 claiming opposition in her 3-year-old finale last fall at Aqueduct. She came right back to open her 2021 season by defeating $50,000 starter-allowance opposition with a career-best 81 Beyer Figure here on Jan. 21. Both victories came at 1 1/16 miles, which is the farthest she’s run.

Lido Key also began her winning streak during the fall at Aqueduct before shipping locally to defeat $20,000 conditioned claiming opposition at a mile and one-eighth here on Jan. 7. She should have plenty of staying power, being by Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop Kid out of a Giant’s Causeway mare.