Gulfport looks for smoother sailing in Hopeful
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Gulfport looks to bounce back from his first career defeat while attempting to give trainer Steve Asmussen a fourth consecutive victory in the Grade 1, $300,000 Hopeful Stakes for 2-year-olds, the closing-day feature at Saratoga.
Gulfport, who finished second to Damon’s Mound in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special here on Aug. 13, meets five rivals in the seven-furlong Hopeful, which goes as race 11 on a 12-race card that begins at 12:35 p.m. and also includes the Grade 3, $200,000 Bernard Baruch for older males on turf.
Gulfport was a seven-length debut winner at Churchill Downs on June 10 and came back to win the Bashford Manor on July 4 by 12 1/4 lengths. Sent off the 2-5 favorite in the four-horse Saratoga Special, Gulfport found himself part of a three-ply speed duel.
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Coming to the top of the stretch, Super Chow came out on Gulfport, forcing Joel Rosario to check Gulfport hard. Damon’s Mound, a talented horse in his own right, got the jump on Gulfport and easily beat him by 3 1/4 lengths.
“Were there only four horses in that race?” Asmussen asked rhetorically. “Hard to describe. Obviously, we think that he’s brilliant. Disappointed with the outcome that day but not disappointed in him.”
Asmussen is making a rider change, replacing Rosario with Flavien Prat. Gulfport breaks from post 4.
Asmussen has won the last three runnings of the Hopeful with Basin (2019), Jackie’s Warrior (2020), and Gunite (2021).
“Hopefully we can continue that win streak, quite significant,” Asmussen said. “We got a great prospect.”
Mo Strike, a son of Uncle Mo, is 2 for 2 with a maiden victory at Churchill and a 3 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3 Sanford here on July 16.
Mo Strike has a series of steady breezes here since the Sanford and trainer Brad Cox believes he’s bringing a more mature colt to the Hopeful.
“He’s grown, he’s physically developed. I’m liking what I see from him,” Cox said.
Florent Geroux will be in to ride Mo Strike, who breaks from post 5.
Blazing Sevens, a son of Good Magic, was a 6 1/4-length debut winner on July 24 for trainer Chad Brown on July 24. His final time of 1:13.34 on paper looks slow, but that was during a period when the main track was quite deep and demanding. He ended up earning an 85 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He ran super, the horse he beat came back and ran well so that’s always nice to see and he’s been training along well ever since,” said Brown, who trains Blazing Sevens for Rodeo Creek Racing.
Blazing Sevens, ridden by Manny Franco, drew the outside post.
The horse Blazing Sevens beat was Bourbon Bash, who came back to win his maiden by eight lengths here on Aug. 13 for trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
“He was smoking at the end of that. He was widening at every jump,” said Lukas, an eight-time Hopeful winner. “I think he’s definitely moved forward out of it.”
While Bourbon Bash has been on the lead at each point of call in both of his starts, Lukas is confident his horse “can sit off him,” if the speedy Gulfport outsprints him early. Bourbon Bash has Tyler Gaffalione and breaks from post 3.
Lukas also sends out Western Ghent, who won a maiden $75,000 claiming race here on Aug. 25. The Hopeful will be his fourth start of the meet. Western Ghent drew the rail and has Luis Saez up.
Todd Pletcher, a three-time Hopeful winner, sends out Forte, who finished fourth behind Mo Strike in the Sanford after he won his debut by 7 1/4 lengths at Belmont Park on May 27. Pletcher believes the deep surface that was in play here the early part of the meet may have hampered Forte in the Sanford.
“I was a little disappointed because I thought he was training well enough to win,” Pletcher said. “Looking back at it now, and how the track was playing, he was trying to close ground on a deep, tiring track that no [speed] really came back. The first three were kind of in front all the way around there. He’s come back and trained well. I think the track should be a little more to his liking and more distance is going to help.”
Forte breaks from post 2 under Irad Ortiz Jr., who will finish as Saratoga’s leading rider in wins.
Following Monday’s card, racing on this circuit is dark until Sept. 15, when Aqueduct opens, hosting the 28-day Belmont Park fall meeting.