Gulfstream: Abaco tries to make Marshua's River second straight Grade 3 win

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It took Abaco a while to get the hang of things. But once she did, Abaco became a major player in the filly-and-mare turf division. On Saturday, Abaco will try to launch her 6-year-old campaign the same way she ended 2013, with a victory in the Grade 3 Marshua’s River Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Abaco is one of the key players in a full field of fillies and mares scheduled to go 1 1/16 miles on turf. The wide-open race also includes Viva Rafaela, the red-hot Deanaallen’skitten, Grade 3 winners Naples Bay and Somali Lemonade, and the speedy Silverette.

Abaco needed eight tries before finally winning her maiden at Saratoga during the summer of 2012. That was the first of four straight wins Abaco posted to end the year, the last coming against a strong allowance field at Gulfstream.

Abaco started six times in 2013, finishing second in a pair of Grade 3 races, including the Suwannee River here in February, before finally becoming a graded stakes winner when she closed out the season with a one-length tally in the Grade 3 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs.

“She had a really good year in 2013,” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “Originally, we thought about waiting for the Suwannee River, but she’s doing so well, we thought we’d go ahead and give her a run in this race.”

Trainer Todd Pletcher had hoped to stretch out Viva Rafaela, a Group 1 winner at 1 1/4 miles in her native Brazil, to 1 1/2 miles in Calder’s La Prevoyante Handicap but had to scrap those plans when the race was canceled. Viva Rafaela finished off the board in her first two U.S. appearances before rebounding with an allowance win here Nov. 11.

“The plan was to run her in the La Prevoyante, and that kind of went up in smoke,” Pletcher said with a chuckle. “I think she’s a filly who probably wants a little longer, but we had her ready to run, so we’ll take a look at this since we’re kind of out of options.”

Naples Bay is winless in seven starts since capturing the Grade 3 Noble Damsel at Monmouth Park in September 2012 but did finish second over the same course this past summer in the Grade 3 Matchmaker.

Deanaallen’skitten has won each of her last two starts, overnight stakes at Aqueduct and Gulfstream, and will step up against graded company for the first time.

Silverette will try to stretch her abundant speed around two turns over turf for the first time.