Fast but controllable Okiro back on turf for Roar Stakes
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Okiro is a bit of a racing oddity. In the morning he can rip off 33-and-change three-furlong works like breaking sticks. But in the afternoon, he’s capable of rationing all that speed and rallying from off the pace like he did to upset the Animal Kingdom Stakes over the synthetic surface at Turfway Park earlier this spring.
On Saturday, Okiro will try to do it again, this time when switching back to the grass as one of the favorites in the $95,000 Roar. The Roar is the second of two turf stakes to be decided on an 11-race program at Gulfstream Park along with the $95,000 Monroe for older fillies and mares.
Okiro stumbled a jump or so out of the gate in the six-furlong Animal Kingdom but recovered quickly to rate about a half-dozen lengths off the early leaders under jockey Julien Leparoux. He then finished full of run out near the center of the track to draw off by 2 1/4 lengths despite not switching off his left lead in the stretch.
“He was moving around when they rang the bell and stumbled a little bit at the start but got in good position right away,” trainer Jose Garoffalo recalled when looking back on the race. “And he responded when Julien asked him to finish. I tried to get Julien to come down here for this race, but he was already committed elsewhere.”
Okiro has been a work in progress in regards to harnessing his speed. He won his career debut over the Tapeta course here in wire-to-wire fashion during the summer of his 2-year-old campaign but has been running from off the pace in each of his last five starts.
“He was very anxious and very immature at first but he’s been improving mentally and physically too and seems to be doing very well coming into this race,” said Garoffalo, who has named Edgard Zayas to handle Okiro for the first time on Saturday. “My chief concern is the distance; five furlongs just may be a little too short for him.”
Although Okiro is the only member of the lineup coming off a stakes win, he is not the marquee name amongst the nine 3-year-olds entered. That honor goes to Crimson Advocate, the lone filly in the field, who upset the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Ascot last June. She has been idle since finishing sixth after contesting the pace to midstretch in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in November. Trainer George Weaver said he is planning to use the race as a prep for planned return trip to Royal Ascot.
Crimson Advocate, who captured the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies here a year ago as a prelude to her victory at Ascot, is one of two horses Weaver entered in the Roar along with Devil in Disguise. A well-bred son of Bolt d’Oro, Devil in Disguise won his only previous start, rallying from last to upset a five-furlong maiden special weight dash over the synthetic strip here March 31.
Other key contenders in the Roar include Reef Runner, who upset the odds-on Valiant Force, runner-up in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, while earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure in his grass debut; and the speedy Esperson, who will race with blinkers for the first time on Saturday.
◗ Charlie’s Wish, the late-running winner of the Distaff Turf Stakes for Florida-breds at Tampa Bay Downs, and the graded stakes winner Angel Nadeshiko top a field of seven fillies and mares entered to go 1 1/16 miles on the turf, weather permitting, in the Monroe.
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Charlie’s Wish, a versatile sort who won the Azalea Stakes going seven furlongs on the main track at 3, posted a career-high 87 Beyer when outfinishing Grade 3 winner Mohawk Trail in the Distaff Turf two months ago.
Angel Nadeshiko figures to contest the early running of the Monroe with the speedy Empress Ellie. Angel Nadeshiko is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Sand Springs six weeks earlier. The race was flattered when runner-up Fast as Flight upset the Grade 3 Modesty earlier this month at Churchill Downs.
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