Gulfstream Park: Abaco takes second shot at Suwannee River Stakes

[bc_video_id:315763:]HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Abaco was making her stakes debut when she fell three-quarters of a length shy of winning the 2013 Suwannee River. A year later, Abaco returns to the $150,000 race as a seasoned graded stakes winner. On Saturday, she’ll face seven rivals in the Grade 3 Suwannee River, including Riposte, a Group 2 winner last summer at Ascot, and the Grade 1-placed Caroline Thomas.

Abaco brought a four-race winning streak into the Suwannee River last winter, only to have her final rally fall short of Channel Lady. It took the homebred daughter of Giant’s Causeway five more starts before she finally became a graded stakes winner by rallying from far back to capture the Grade 3 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs in her 2013 finale.

Trainer Shug McGaughey had originally penciled in the 1 1/8-mile Suwannee River for Abaco’s 2014 debut but said she was training so well that he opted to run her here last month in the Grade 3 Marshua’s River. Forced to break from the extreme outside in a 10-horse field, Abaco was hung wide the entire trip and failed to kick on late, finishing fourth, beaten 1 1/2 lengths, as the 5-2 favorite.

“I was a little disappointed in her last race, although I thought she ran fine,” said McGaughey, who trains Abaco for the Phipps Stable. “She was outside the whole way, and the winner got through along the inside. That race was at a mile and a sixteenth, and a mile and an eighth will suit her much better.”

Pace could prove a major issue for the stretch-running Abaco in the Suwannee River, with a decided lack of speed signed on for the race. The red-hot Parranda, who took advantage of a similarly paceless race to capture the Our Dear Peg Stakes here last September, might try to steal the Suwannee River on the lead after breaking from the No. 2 post.

Parranda, a daughter of English Channel trained by Rodolfo Garcia, has captured three of her last four starts, including a score in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf by three lengths here Jan. 18.

“She’s really on top of her game right now,” Garcia said. “Every time we’ve tried her in a graded stakes, she’s run well but didn’t get the job done. The one thing we have going for her Saturday is that she really seems to like this course. It certainly looks like she’s going to be closer than usual due to the lack of pace in this field, and if Jose [Lezcano] sees nobody else goes, she just might be the one on the lead.”

Caroline Thomas closed out her 3-year-old campaign last year by finishing a fast-charging third, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland. She will be making her first start in almost four months and her first against older horses Saturday. She won the Grade 2 Lake Placid via disqualification last summer at Saratoga.

“We gave her a little time off and freshened her a bit after her 3-year-old campaign,” said Barclay Tagg, who also trained Caroline Thomas’s dam, Bit of Whimsy. “She’s been training very well, and this race fits into how we want to get her started.”

Riposte makes her U.S. debut for trainer Bill Mott and, like Caroline Thomas, has not run since early October. The Juddmonte homebred won the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes last June at Royal Ascot before going unplaced in three subsequent outings, including two Group 1 races. Riposte will turn back in distance after making all six of her previous starts at 1 1/4 miles and beyond.

Malibu Yankee, Ainsley, Nicki Starshine, and Abbey Street complete the field.