Impressive debut winner R Harper Rose back after spiking temperature
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – R Harper Rose, who missed the opportunity to compete in the opening leg of the filly division of the rich Florida Sire Stakes here earlier this summer after spiking a temperature 48 hours before the race, will return to action against entry-level allowance company in Friday’s co-feature at Gulfstream Park.
The 5 1/2-furlong allowance dash for 2-year-old fillies shares top billing on the card with a first-level optional-claiming and allowance race for older fillies and mares that drew a field of eight, including last year’s top locally based juvenile filly, the graded stakes-placed Atomically.
R Harper Rose launched her career in sensational fashion over a muddy strip here Aug. 5, taking command right from the start and steadily widening her advantage to 6 1/4 lengths at the wire for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Unfortunately, handicappers will have a hard time quantifying the performance since no Beyer Speed Figure was assigned to the race due to a change in track condition and lack of sufficient data to support an accurate figure, according to Beyer officials.
R Harper Rose was the odds-on morning-line favorite for the $100,000 Desert Vixen here earlier this month only to be scratched the morning of the race.
“She spiked a minor temperature on Thursday, we waited until Saturday morning to see where we were at and while it was a tough decision to scratch, it was the right one,” Joseph said. “We just didn’t want to run her if she wasn’t 100 percent.”
Joseph said R Harper Rose only missed three days of training as a result of her illness and is plenty fit and doing very well coming into her second start.
“There is some other speed in this field, and she is ratable,” Joseph said. “But she’s also naturally fast, so I’d expect her to be on the lead again. We’re hoping she can duplicate her first effort so we can point her for the second leg of the sire series,” the seven-furlong Susan’s Girl on Oct. 21.
R Harper Rose’s chief competition could come from Fay’s Rhonda Cares, an equally impressive 5 1/4-length maiden winner in her lone start, a race contested over the synthetic Tapeta strip. Fay’s Rhonda Cares, owned by her trainer, Steve Dowskin, received a relatively strong 72 Beyer Figure for her debut.
Demar’s Legacy was a very game winner at first asking in her lone start July 23, dueling on the lead nearly every step of the way before registering a well-deserved neck decision for trainer Mark Casse. The daughter of Enticed has had only two published works in the eight weeks since that outing, including five furlongs in 1:00.40 here Sept. 7.
Atomically back with Pinchin
Atomically is back in familiar hands, with trainer Jose Pinchin, for whom she won 2 of 3 starts to launch her career here last summer and fall, including the 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl, the finale of the filly division of the Florida Sire Stakes, which she won by 6 3/4 lengths. Atomically was purchased privately by her current owners, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, subsequent to that race and turned over to trainer Todd Pletcher for whom she finished seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She has made just two starts at 3, finishing third in the Grade 3 Forward Gal and a distant seventh in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks on April 1.
Atomically has had six works prepping for her return since rejoining Pinchin’s barn and will race with Lasix for the first time Friday.
Accomplished Girl improving
Joseph got the week off to a good start when sending out Accomplished Girl to upset the Grade 2 Presque Isle Masters on Monday.
Accomplished Girl, a winner on turf and dirt here earlier in the season, led at every call before holding off Midnight Stroll to register a three-quarter-length decision under jockey Edgard Zayas in her graded stakes debut.
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“She’d always shown a lot of talent but was very temperamental, she was scratched twice in the post parade before races here last winter, but she’s settled down quite a bit lately,” Joseph said. “She had rated and sat behind horses in her previous start at Kentucky Downs and we intended for her to run that way Monday, but she inherited the lead easily in the opening quarter and that was the key.”
Joseph said he has no plans for Accomplished Girl’s next start.
“The goal was to get her to win a graded stakes, so for now we’ll just send her back to Highpointe Farm in Kentucky where we have a string stabled and give it a week or so before trying to decide what will be next for her,” Joseph said.
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