Early Entry, Barrabas Key meet in sprint feature

With only 11 horses nominated to Friday’s $75,000 Opening Lead Stakes at Gulfstream Park, a six-furlong prep for the $250,000 Smile Sprint on June 30, the race seemed in jeopardy from the outset, especially with trainer Kathy Ritvo opting to skip the Opening Lead with Classic Rock and train the horse up to the Grade 3 Smile Sprint.

The Opening Lead ultimately died with only four names in the box, although two of the nominees, Early Entry and Barrabas Key, found an easier alternative in a $48,000 allowance and optional-claiming dash at six furlongs that now serves as the headliner on Friday’s nine-race card.

Both Early Entry and Barrabas Key pose question marks for handicappers. Early Entry is a two-time stakes winner who returned from a 13-month layoff to finish a tiring fourth behind Classic Rock in the Jeblar Stakes on May 6. He’ll race under a $40,000 claiming tag on Friday, the first time he’s run for a tag in two years.

Trained by Kathleen O’Connell, Early Entry posted back-to-back statebred stakes wins 11 months apart at Gulfstream in February 2016 and January 2017. He’s expected to set or force the pace under jockey Tyler Gaffalione after breaking from the rail.

Barrabas Key, now trained by Ron Spatz, is a mystery, having raced exclusively in his native Argentina, where he won three of eight starts as a 3-year-old in 2017. Barrabas Key has never run beyond five furlongs and will be equipped with blinkers for the first time.

French Quarter also returns to the selling ranks for the first time in more than a year. The stakes-placed veteran has finished sixth and fourth against higher-priced optional-claiming competition in his two starts since returning from a seven-month hiatus here in March. Like Early Entry, he should be a forward factor from the outset.

The best form in the field belongs to My Friend Flavin, who defeated conditioned-claiming opposition by 1 3/4 lengths for trainer Leo Gabriel Jr. on April 27. The win was the second in three local appearances for the Louisiana-bred, who won a restricted stakes at Fair Grounds in December 2016.

“He’s moving up quite a bit off that last race,” said Gabriel. “That was a beaten claiming race since a date, and I kind of felt our horse had them over a barrel. But there are some old stakes [horses] in this lineup, and if they come to life, they’ll be hickory. Like them, mine has seen his better days, too. But he seems to really like this track, he’s doing well, and I’d expect him to get the same kind of stalking trip he got in his last start and run the same kind of race again.”

The six-horse field also includes Bombs Away, the only entrant not running for a tag, and Diddley.