Gulfstream Park: Action Andy returns to form

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The top sprinter Action Andy got back on the winning track in Friday’s featured fourth race, cruising to victory over the odds-on Apriority. The win was the first for Action Andy since he registered back-to-back victories in Laurel’s Frank De Francis Memorial and Tampa Bay Downs’s Pelican Stakes during the fall of 2012. Action Andy completed 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.89, .49 of a second off the track record, despite being geared down at the end by jockey Paco Lopez.

Action Andy was in for the $100,000 tag in the optional-claiming race.

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“He was training well and I took a chance running for the $100,000," trainer Carlos Garcia said. "I don’t think anyone has that much money. He won easy too, didn’t he? We took him back in his last two starts at Tampa, but today we let him go. He’s been running against better horses than this bunch. We came here last year, but he hadn’t trained as well for that race as he did for this one today.”

Action Andy finished second, four lengths behind Travelin Man, in the 2013 Sir Shackleton here.