Grande Shores looks like standout in Bull Gator
Grande Shores butted heads with a surprising number of the best dirt horses on the East Coast this past winter, including Mshawish, Valid, X Y Jet, Stanford, and Blofeld, and if he comes anywhere near his baseline form, he should make short work of his four opponents Friday at Gulfstream Park in the Bull Gator Stakes.
Restricted to Florida-breds, the Bull Gator is worth $75,000 and is contested at seven furlongs, an ideal distance for Grande Shores. One-mile races push his limits, and six-furlong sprints are on the short side, but at seven furlongs, the 8-year-old Grande Shores has compiled a 6-4-3 record from 16 starts. Overall, he is an excellent 15-17-7 from 54 races, but this start, his 55th, is his first for trainer Mark Casse.
Casse took over Grande Shores’s training last month when the gelding’s owners, the Jacks or Better Farm of Fred and Jane Brei, parted ways with longtime trainer Stanley Gold. But Casse’s operation obviously is vastly accomplished, and it seems unlikely that an old gelding with such strongly established form will take a significant step back while living in a different shed row. Grande Shores sharply won Gulfstream’s $100,000 Sir Shackleton at this distance April 2 and has since been steadily breezing.
The race could well be for second, and We’re All Set might be the right horse to fill the place hole. We’re All Set exits first-level allowance races both open and statebred-restricted, but he has been in sharp form for trainer Peter Walder and possesses a quality, early speed that’s apparently in short supply in the Bull Gator. We’re All Set looks capable of making the lead from his outside draw, and while he’s unlikely to hold off the classy Grande Shores, the other three – Yourdreamsormine, Joshua’s Comprise, and Aces for John – might not catch him.
The Bull Gator goes as race 6, and there’s also a pretty good horse running in race 7, a one-mile dirt race with multiple allowance conditions and a $62,500 claiming option. Kiss to Remember managed a second in the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes last summer at Saratoga and somehow managed to get beat at this class level and distance April 22. She was 1-2 in that start and should make amends at a comparably miniscule price from a cozy outside draw Friday.