Gulfstream Park: Wolfson poses triple threat in Inside Information
[bc_video_id:319008:]HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Running two or more fillies in a stakes race is common practice for trainer Marty Wolfson. So, it should come as no surprise that Wolfson will not only send out three of the seven starters in Saturday’s $200,000 Inside Information at Gulfstream Park, but that all three may vie for favoritism in the Grade 2 sprint.
Wolfson’s trio consists of the Grade 2-placed Centrique and My Pal Chrisy along with Grade 3 winner Heart Stealer. They will go up against a field that includes the multiple Grade 1-placed Wildcat Lily, stakes winners Five Star Momma and Toasting, and Zia Zia Zia, one of the newest additions to trainer Todd Pletcher’s potent stable.
Centrique is coming off a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap, a race in which she did not have the cleanest of trips after breaking a step slowly from the rail. Centrique is perfect over the local strip, having won all three previous starts at Gulfstream Park, including the Claiming Crown Glass Slipper earlier in the meet.
My Pal Chrisy has been a model of consistency since being purchased privately by Miller Racing LLC and turned over to Wolfson during the summer of 2013. My Pal Chrisy won a pair of stakes here during the fall but has gone winless in four subsequent starts, beginning with a third-place finish in Aqueduct’s Grade 2 Go for Wand going a mile in November.
Heart Stealer comes off her worst effort since joining Wolfson’s stable late last summer, finishing a well-beaten fifth in last month’s Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie. In her previous start, Heart Stealer rallied to a neck decision over R Free Roll in the Grade 3 Sugar Swirl.
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“Centrique went to Maryland, and the track was closed because of the weather, and she couldn’t train for a week,” Wolfson said. “Then she drew the rail that day, ran a good race, but she hung. She loves this track, and she gets Javier [Castellano)] back on her, which I like a lot.”
Wolfson said Heart Stealer “just wasn’t herself when she finished 11 lengths behind two-time champion Groupie Doll as the second choice in the Hurricane Bertie.
“I don’t know what happened that day. She’s got a lot of speed, and maybe Javier took her back a little too far,” Wolfson said. “But she’s done great since. She seems to be working the way she was going into the Sugar Swirl.”
My Pal Chrisy will be ridden for the first time by Julien Leparoux.
“She’s run against better horses as she’s continued to go forward, which may be why she hasn’t won lately,” Wolfson said. “But she’s the best closer in this field, and she’s got the right rider in Leparoux. He should fit her well. I expect both Heart Stealer and Centrique to be close to the pace and My Pal Chrisy to be coming on from last on Saturday.”
Five Star Momma and Wildcat Lily finished second and third behind Groupie Doll in the Hurricane Bertie.
Five Star Momma continues to hold her form extremely well for trainer Jena Antonucci, having finished first or second in each of her last four starts, each of those efforts coming at a different racetrack. She continues to train well for the Inside Information and figures to be out and winging it early after breaking from the rail.
Wildcat Lily, the runner-up in both the Prioress and Test stakes last summer at Saratoga, raced like a filly who needed a race coming off a 4 1/2-month layoff in the Hurricane Bertie. And, like Five Star Momma, she continues to train forwardly for her second start of the year.
Toasting wheels back on short rest after winning a statebred allowance race going seven furlongs two weeks ago.
“I really don’t want to run her back again in two weeks because it is a long year,” trainer Tom Albertrani said. “But seven furlongs is her distance, and she came out of her last start just bouncing. You almost have to run her when she’s doing this well.”