Grand Tito, Kaigun rematched in Pan American

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Grand Tito and Kaigun, the one-two finishers from the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida here on March 5, head the field for Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Pan American at 1 1/2 miles on turf.

Meanwhile, Twilight Eclipse, who won this race in 2013 and set a world record for the distance, was entered for the main track only. Trainer Tom Albertrani said he didn’t feel Twilight Eclipse handled the Gulfstream turf course when finishing seventh in the Mac Diarmida.

Grand Tito has won five of his last seven starts dating to last July 5, when he won the Miesque’s Approval over this course.

Kaigun is winless in his last nine starts, having finished second in four consecutive graded stakes.

Lukes Alley, who won the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf here earlier in the meet, will miss the Pan American with a bacterial infection, according to trainer Josie Carroll.

Force the Pass returns in Appleton

Force the Pass, the winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Derby and the Penn Mile last year, will make his 4-year-old debut in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Appleton Stakes going a mile.

Force the Pass has not run since finishing third in the Grade 2 Commonwealth Derby last September at Laurel.

“The mile he ran at Penn National was amazing,” said New Jersey-based trainer Alan Goldberg. “He’s a good horse who I think will be better at 4.”

Long On Value and Divisidero, second and third behind Heart to Heart in the Canadian Turf, head the competition.

Photo Call tops Orchid

Photo Call, who won the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive last fall, will make her second start of the year in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Orchid Stakes at 1 3/8 miles on turf.

Photo Call, in her first start for trainer Todd Pletcher, finished fourth behind the champion Tepin in the Endeavour Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in February.

Trainer Bill Mott sends out two in the Orchid in Songoficeandfire and Suffused, and Christophe Clement will send out the uncoupled pair of Crissolles and Maximova.

Lady Lara, Sandiva meet again

Lady Lara handed Sandiva her only loss from four starts over Gulfstream Park’s turf course, beating her by a neck in last year’s Grade 3 Honey Fox. Those two are back Saturday in this year’s $300,000 Honey Fox, a one-mile turf race for fillies and mares.

Lady Lara won the My Charmer at Gulfstream Park West last November and then finished second to Tepin in the Endeavour on Feb. 13.

Tammy the Torpedo and Celestine, separated by a neck in the Tropical Park Oaks here in December, also are in this field.

In other Saturday stakes:

◗ Valid, a six-time stakes winner, looms large in a field of six entered for the $150,000 Skip Away Stakes at 1 1/8 miles. Recent allowance winners Team Colors and Savoy Stomp headline the competition.

◗ Anchor Down, third in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap, heads a field of nine entered in the $100,000 Sir Shackleton Stakes going seven furlongs. The field includes Defer Heaven, who has won five consecutive races, including all four since being claimed by Jorge Navarro for $16,000.