Following improved effort, Commandant stays on Tapeta
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A switch to the Tapeta track in his last start seems to have provided the wake-up call Commandant needed to turn his career in the right direction. The 3-year-old will try to keep that momentum going when facing seven rivals at 5 1/2 furlongs over the synthetic strip under optional-claiming and allowance conditions in a race restricted to Florida-breds on Friday at Gulfstream Park.
Commandant has plenty of pedigree power in his bloodlines being a half-brother to the graded stakes-placed duo of Schivarelli and Talk Logistics as well as the speedy stakes winner King Cab. As a result, he brought $300,000 at the 2022 April Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. sale.
Commandant, a son of Girvin, wasted little time showing promise, overcoming a very tough trip to win his debut here in June 2022. That performance, combined with his breeding, subsequently earned him a starting slot in all three legs of the open division of the Florida Sire Series. Although Commandant proved a bit of a disappointment in the series, finishing sixth in the six-furlong Dr. Fager, fourth in the seven-panel Affirmed, and fifth going 1 1/16 miles in the In Reality, all three of those stakes were won by local 2-year-old champion Awesome Strong.
Trainer David Braddy sent Commandant to the sidelines for an extended layoff following the In Reality, bringing him back to finish a tiring fifth nearly 10 months later under allowance conditions on the main track. Braddy then made what turned out to be the crucial decision of trying Commandant over the Tapeta track while also dropping him in under a $50,000 claiming tag for his second start of the year. Commandant rewarded Braddy with a 1 3/4-length victory for which he received a career-best 78 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I’d seen some other Girvins run well on the Tapeta, so I decided to try him over the surface and he obviously seemed to like it,” Braddy said. “Obviously, we had high hopes for him right off the bat, but things don’t always work out as you think they might in this business. He’s had some issues along the way, and the fact we can run him on Lasix now as a 3-year-old has also been a big help.
“The horse has done really well since his last start. I like the outside post and I think this race will answer a lot of questions, will give us a good idea what direction we might be heading with him in the future.”
Commandant is one of only three multiple winners in the lineup along with Awesome Crusader, who posted back-to-back victories over the Tapeta during the spring-summer session after needing 21 starts to finally win his maiden in May, and the veteran Exchange Day, who returns locally after recording his sixth lifetime triumph defeating open $12,500 claiming opposition last month on the turf at Monmouth Park.
The pace in the headliner figures to be honest with Startonahighnote, a wire-to-wire maiden $40,000 claiming winner in his last start, and Bella Future likely to cut out the early fractions.
◗ Despite stretching out from 5 1/2 furlongs to a mile and setting a very rapid pace, Omaha Girl had enough left in the tank to upset last Sunday’s $65,000 Hallandale Beach Stakes for 2-year-old fillies under jockey Samy Camacho, who has returned locally after finishing second in the standings at the recently concluded Monmouth meet.
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Omaha Girl, a half-sister to Grade 3 turf winner Abaan by Omaha Beach, is trained by Jorge Delgado for Amo Racing USA.
◗ A pair of $65,000 overnight stakes for 2-year-olds, the Hollywood Beach going five furlongs over the Tapeta on Saturday, and the Aventura to be decided at one mile on the main track the following afternoon, highlight the weekend action.
Prevent and the stakes-placed Mattingly are among the leading contenders for the Hollywood Beach, while the Mike Repole-owned and Todd Pletcher-trained Self Sufficient, an easy winner of his only previous start, might be the tepid favorite among a well matched and promising group of lightly raced juveniles entered to contest the Aventura.
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