Gulfstream Park: Palace Malice targets Gulfstream Park Handicap
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Palace Malice, the 2013 Belmont Stakes winner and a top handicap prospect for this year, will begin his 4-year-old campaign in the Grade 2, $250,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap, a one-turn, one-mile race here March 8, according to a media release this week from the colt’s owner, Dogwood Stable.
“This mile race is a logical debut for the colt,” said Dogwood president Cot Campbell, adding that the colt was sent from a winter break in Aiken, S.C., to trainer Todd Pletcher at Palm Meadows on Jan. 7.
Campbell said John Velazquez will ride the colt for the first time and that the New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds on March 29 is the preferred next race.
Palace Malice, by Curlin, won the Belmont and Jim Dandy stakes last year while earning more than $1.4 million.
Grace Hall back on tab
Grace Hall had her first workout since returning from a leg fracture when breezing three furlongs Monday in 37 seconds at Payson Park.
Now trained by Bill Mott after being purchased by Alpha Delta Stables in November, Grace Hall “is probably still a little while” from a race, Mott said.
“She had a little trouble with an eye recently, but the main reason she’s been away as long as she has was her injury out of the Apple Blossom,” Mott said.
Grace Hall, formerly trained by Tony Dutrow for Michael Dubb, came out of a last-place finish as the even-money favorite in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom last April with a partial fracture to her right front coffin bone. Now 5, the daughter of Empire Maker has won 6 of 13 starts and more than $1.4 million.
[Clocker Reports: Get Mike Welsch’s clocker reports from Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows]
Weekend stakes take shape
Entries were drawn Wednesday for a pair of graded turf stakes that anchor an 11-race card here Saturday. Here are the lineups from the hedge:
◗ Grade 2, $200,000 Mac Diarmida (race 10): Suntracer, Dashing David, Mucho Mas Macho, Slumber, Bingo Bango Bongo, Twilight Eclipse, Amen Kitten, Cozy Kitten, Alpha, and Micromanage.
◗ Grade 3, $100,000 The Very One (race 8): Aigue Marine, Left a Message, Seanchai, Dame Marie, Preferential, Inimitable Romanee, Anjaz, and Viva Rafaela.
The Sunday feature at Gulfstream is the Grade 2, $200,000 Sabin, a 1 1/16-mile dirt race for fillies and mares. Expected starters include Angelica Zapata, Devil’s Cave, Private Ensign, and Sweet N Discreet.
◗ Groupie Doll, the two-time champion who ended her career on a winning note here Sunday in the Hurricane Bertie Stakes, departed Wednesday on a van for GoldMark Farm in Ocala, Fla. The 6-year-old mare is booked to be bred in Kentucky to Tapit.