To the Eastside takes the Benny the Bull by the horns
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To the Eastside hustled up the rail to take the early lead and never looked back in the $100,000 Benny the Bull Handicap on Saturday at Gulfstream Park. The 12-1 shot flew under the radar despite improving in recent starts for trainer Andrea Puckett.
Earlier this summer, the 5-year-old gelding finished well behind several rivals from the Benny the Bull’s field of seven, failing to threaten in a pair of similar stakes. On Aug. 3, he found a softer field of four in a starter allowance and improved to finish second by a neck with a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.
Even in his improved runner-up finish last time out, To the Eastside failed to show the early speed he developed during a successful stint in the spring. That didn’t seem likely to change when he broke slowly on the sloppy, sealed track on Saturday, but jockey Edgar Perez urged him forward on the rail to take over through an opening quarter-mile in 22.53 seconds.
The pacesetter struggled to get comfortable early in the seven-furlong sprint, as the 5-2 second choice Latch the Hatch and stalking contender Pure Class both applied pressure on the backstretch. To the Eastside persisted under Perez, however, competing the half-mile in 45.37 and kicking clear by two lengths on the far turn.
Classic of Course, a last-out allowance winner, led a slew of late finishers trying to make up ground, but the Patrick Biancone-trained gelding ran out of room. With a well-timed ride, To the Eastside, trained by Andrea Puckett, held on to win by a length, completing the seven-furlong distance on a sloppy track in 1:24.53. He paid $27.40 to win.
Pure Class advanced into second on the far turn but never made a compelling bid on the leader, flattening out and fading back to third for trainer David Fawkes. He finished a neck behind Classic of Course.
Trelawny wins off-the-turf Bears Den
Heavy rain greatly impacted several races at Gulfstream on Saturday, including the $100,000 Bears Den Stakes. With the race moved from turf to synthetic, Trelawny was bet down to 8-5 favoritism and won a race-long duel with Diciassette by a head.
The field of eight 3-year-olds was shortened to six after Knoty Knicks and Move Jesse Move scratched, leaving Trelawny as one of three horses with a prior victory on synthetic. The mile and 70-yard distance was only a question to an extent, as he was coming off a first-level allowance victory at 7 1/2 furlongs on the turf.
Diciassette, who had run exclusively on dirt in six career starts for Biancone, took the early lead under J.G. Torrealba in his debut on the Tapeta. Trelawny and Jose Morelos did not let him get away, however, pressing the pace into the first turn and staying just outside of him all the way.
The top pair vied through relatively modest fractions, easing through an opening quarter-mile in 24.85 seconds and half-mile in 50.41. From the half-mile pole to the wire, they exchanged the lead multiple times, running in extremely tight formation and leaving the rest of the field behind.
It became clear that the duel was going to decide the race, and with a slightly more determined finish, Trelawny got the bob at the end. Trained by Jose Pinchin, he completed the mile and 70 yards in 1:42.42 and paid $5.20 to win.
Win N Juice, a 9-1 longshot trained by Nicholas Tomlinson, backed off to last before rallying to take third. He finished 2 3/4 lengths behind Diciassette and easily took third over three flagging rivals.
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