Gold Mover takes Hurricane Bertie

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gold Mover avenged an earlier loss at this meet to Harmony Lodge and defended her title in the Sunday with a convincing 3 1-2-length victory in the $100,000 ungraded race at Gulfstream Park.

Harmony Lodge, who defeated Gold Mover in the Shirley Jones Handicap and had also won the First Lady Handicap at this meet, settled for second, 4 1-2 lengths ahead of Belterra. Preferred Option and Silk Concorde completed the order of finish.

Gold Mover, under Edgar Prado, covered the 6 1-2 furlongs 1:15.83, just .83 seconds off the track record.

Harmony Lodge, under Pat Day, broke on top, but after running an opening quarter of 22.43 seconds, Gold Mover raced up inside of her and poked a head in front. The two were inseparable from the three-eighths pole to the three-sixteenths pole before Gold Mover began to edge clear. Gold Mover returned $4.60 as the second choice.

``[Harmony Lodge] was the horse to beat so I decided to hook up early,' Prado said. ``If she was going to beat me I was going to make her beat me running.'

Trainer Mark Hennig said he felt confident going into the race because of how Gold Mover trained since finishing second to Harmony Lodge in the Shirley Jones.

``I knew when we went inside of her and they went 22-and-two the first quarter, I felt pretty confident,' said Hennig, who trains Gold Mover for owner/breeder Edward Evans. ``I though it was going to take a big effort to outsprint her the last half-mile.'

Hennig said he would point Gold Mover to the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 3. Gold Mover finished first in that race last year, but was disqualified.