East Hall eyes Fort Loudon Stakes next

East Hall will be coming off one of his strongest races of the year next month when he goes in the $75,000 Fort Loudon at Gulfstream Park. Trainer Bill Kaplan said Monday that the Oct. 3 race is the goal for the horse. East Hall earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 92 on Saturday after he closed in the slop for an authoritative win in the $75,000 Sensitive Prince at Gulfstream.

“We’ll try to stay here and win another one,” said Kaplan, who trains East Hall for Jack Hendricks and Roger Justice.

The Fort Loudon will be part of the Florida Sire Stakes card. It is a 1 1/16-mile race restricted to 3-year-olds and up bred in Florida. East Hall on Saturday was winning his first race of the year after facing stiff competition in his prior six starts in 2015, including three graded stakes races. He trailed early in the 1 1/16-mile Sensitive Prince before going on to win by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:43.23.

“He ran like he usually does,” said Kaplan. “He’s been running in graded company and big races, and this was an overnight race Saturday at Gulfstream. He had a little bit of an edge class-wise, and he showed it. He had a great run and a great finish.”

Apprentice Tyler Gaffalione, the meet’s leading rider, who turned 21 on Saturday, was impressed with East Hall, whom he rode for the first time in the Sensitive Prince.

“That’s the best horse I ever sat on,” Gaffalione told Gulfstream officials after the race. “He’s an old class horse who does everything right. Early on, he just gallops along. When I asked him to run, he really exploded.”

East Hall was a main-track-only entrant in the $75,000 The Vid on Sept. 5 at Gulfstream and was scratched when the race remained on the turf. Kaplan had said before The Vid that if the horse scratched, he’d target the Sensitive Prince.

East Hall, who won last year’s Grade 2 Indiana Derby and the Ohio Derby, started his 4-year-old season in January with a runner-up finish in the $250,000 Florida Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream. He proceeded to test older graded stakes rivals for the first time in the Donn, the Gulfstream Park Handicap, and the Skip Away. Overall, East Hall has won 6 of 27 starts and $867,665.