Gulfstream Park: And Why Not looks to end nine-race losing streak

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A year ago, trainer Michael Matz was preparing And Why Not to make her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. On Wednesday, Matz will bring And Why Not back from a similar layoff, still hoping to win her entry-level allowance condition in the afternoon’s $54,500 main event, to be decided by a field of eight older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on the main track.

And Why Not was a runaway winner in her career debut at age 2 at Saratoga in 2011, but has not visited the winner’s circle in nine subsequent starts. Three of those outings were against Grade 1 competition, including the 2012 Kentucky Oaks in which she finished ninth following an eventful trip.

And Why Not, a daughter of Street Cry owned by Helen Groves, was Grade 1-placed at 2 when finishing third, albeit a distant one, behind Grace Hall in Saratoga’s Spinaway. She was freshened after finishing a late-running second in Churchill Downs’s Grade 2 Pocahontas to close her abbreviated juvenile campaign and returned five months later to finish seventh, once again behind Grace Hall, in the 1 1/8-mile Gulfstream Oaks.

And Why Not finally dropped down into allowance company last summer, making three more starts, with her best finish a second in an entry-level allowance race at Delaware Park on July 9 before Matz stopped on her in mid-September. Matz has breezed And Why Not a half-dozen times at Palm Meadows since Jan. 27 in preparation for her return.

And Why Not will break from post 7, a distinct disadvantage in races decided at 1 1/16 miles over the main track at Gulfstream. She’ll compete without blinkers for the first time since finishing third in Delaware’s Go For Wand almost 10 months ago.

Pelipa, who breaks one stall inside of And Why Not from post 6, owns the best last-race Beyer Speed Figure in the field, a 75 earned under similar conditions over the turf here March 1. Pelipa has had the majority of her success on dirt, registering her only victory over a muddy strip last May at Belmont Park. She finished second in her other two main-track tries.

Both Go Go Lolo and Classic Point step up off conditioned claiming wins. Go Go Lolo captured a never-won-three-lifetime race going seven furlongs Jan. 24 but, like And Why Not, will be burdened by a bad post Wednesday, breaking on the extreme outside.

Classic Point received a career-best 73 Beyer after running away late from mid-level conditioned claimers when trying a mile for the first time Feb. 23. Trained by Hall of Famer Allen Jerkens, Classic Point figures to be among the early leaders and may prove the one to catch while stretching out around two turns.

Call the Ten, like Pelipa, has done most of her racing on grass and will try dirt for the first time while coming off the claim for trainer Marty Wolfson. Call the Ten, who has been entered and scratched three times since being haltered for $30,000 on Feb. 6, has been a beaten favorite in each of her last five starts.