Grande Shores prevails in Sir Shackleton Stakes

Grande Shores shot through an opening along the rail on the turn and drew off down the stretch to get the third stakes win of his career Saturday, beating Squadron A by 1 3/4 lengths in the $100,000 Sir Shackleton Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Grande Shores, an 8-year-old son of Black Mambo, is a homebred for Fred Brei’s Jacks or Better Farm and is trained by Stanley Gold. The horse has won 15 of 54 career starts for $587,649. He raced for as low as an $8,000 claiming price back in 2013.

Prior to Saturday, Grande Shores had made four consecutive starts in graded stakes at Gulfstream Park over the winter, finishing second in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector and third in both the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope and the Grade 3 Fred W. Hooper. His previous stakes wins came in the $110,000 Claiming Crown Rapid Transit in December 2014 and the $60,000 Parrot Key last June.

Defer Heaven, the 6-5 favorite, set the pace in the Sir Shackleton, covering a quarter-mile in 22.62 seconds and a half-mile in 44.86 while pressured by W V Jetsetter. With Edgard Zayas aboard, Grande Shores ($9.40) took advantage of the opening along the inside and surged clear, leading by 4 1/2 lengths at the head of the lane and finishing the seven-furlong race on a “good” track in 1:22.96.

Squadron A finished 6 1/4 lengths clear of third-place Brothersofthetime. They were followed by Just Call Kenny, Defer Heaven, and W V Jetsetter in the field of 4-year-olds and up. Anchor Down, Yourdreamsormine, and Griff were scratched.