Four allowances dot solid Gulfstream card

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The local stakes schedule may be on hold at the present time, but there is no shortage of quality racing Saturday at Gulfstream with four of the 10 races on the card to be decided under allowance conditions, two over the main track and two on turf.

As expected, the two grass races drew large and very wide-open fields, starting with the afternoon’s second race, for fillies and mares, which lured 10, including trainer Mark Casse’s stakes-winning Ticker Tape Home, who has been idle since finishing sixth in the Glen Cove Stakes on turf last fall at Aqueduct.

The intriguing lineup also includes the Irish-bred Shuangxi, who makes her U.S. debut for trainer Arnaud Delacour; the pair of My Lady James and Queen Karima, exiting near-misses under similar conditions in their most recent starts; and Silvretta, who ran creditably despite an eventful trip in her U.S. bow over the Tapeta strip one month earlier.

The second of the afternoon’s two grass co-features, the eighth race, figures to be no less of a handicapping challenge, luring a dozen 3-year-old fillies, led by the Christophe Clement-trained pair of Beanpot and Iced Coffee. Should both Clement runners start, they project to be part of a very lively pace scenario that also figures to include the Tampa-based Riparound along with Devil At Midnight and Artemis Sound.

Beanpot was run down late by Pretty Liam, who was subsequently stakes-placed when second best after setting the early fractions in her debut before returning to register a gate-to-wire neck decision over Artemis Sound under similar maiden special weight conditions four weeks later. Artemis Sound flattered that effort by returning to earn her diploma in similar front-running fashion in her next start, setting up a rematch between the pair as a bit of a side plot on Saturday.

Iced Coffee, a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Instant Coffee, won at first asking, contesting all the pace before edging away to a 1 1/4-length victory. She finished a tiring seventh against a strong group that included recent stakes winner Twirling Queen and Pretty Liam under allowance conditions in her only other start. She will make her turf debut Saturday.

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A hotly contested pace could prove a plus for late-runners like Quimichis and Taprixie. Quimichis rallied to finish fourth under similar allowance conditions over the Tapeta strip in her most recent start while Taprixie came from just off the lead to capture her only previous turf outing while receiving a 75 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest posted to date by any member of this group.

Casse also should be a major player in the first of the two main-track allowance events on the program, both of which will be decided at six furlongs. He sends out the four-time Louisiana-bred stakes winner Bron and Brow off an unlucky fourth-place finish in his local bow on March 10, when he was forced to race wide throughout after being unprepared for the start.

Brown and Brow could wind up vying for favoritism with another restricted stakes winner, the Florida-bred Turbo, or the lightly raced but talented Toxic Gray, who returns to the races with his new trainer, Eddie Plesa Jr., following a prolonged absence.

Adios Babe woke up with a career-best effort in her last start and will likely need to duplicate that performance if she’s to handle the step up in company she takes for Saturday’s co-featured ninth event.

Adios Babe stalked the pace before drawing off to a convincing five-length optional-claiming and starter-allowance victory just three weeks earlier, registering an 80 Beyer that was her highest in 30 lifetime starts. Trainer by Jennifer Young, Adios Babe should be able to sit a similar stalking trip breaking on the extreme outside in the seven-horse lineup.

Adios Babe may find her chief rival coming from the opposite end of the starting gate. The rail-drawn Hihellohowareyou continues to knock on the door at this level while proving to be a bit of a disappointment at the same time, having been a beaten favorite in each of her last two starts.

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