Indecipherable Appleton immediately precedes Florida Derby

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Appleton came up such an exceptional race that it was awarded the shotgun seat, the prime spot alongside the driver.

Indeed, when the Grade 3, $100,000 Appleton drew such a deep field, the Gulfstream Park racing office decided to place the one-mile turf race right before the 14th and last Saturday race, the featured Florida Derby. It’s a slot that speaks volumes, given how many other supporting stakes on the card look similarly competitive.

But exactly where is a handicapper supposed to start?

Sombeyay and English Bee were the respective one-two finishers in the Feb. 29 Canadian Turf, the most recent Grade 3 turf mile for older horses run at the championship meet. Dr. Edgar won the 2019 Appleton as a lukewarm favorite. El Tormenta won the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile last September.

Social Paranoia makes an eagerly awaited 4-year-old debut. Ballagh Rocks is back to winning, Mr Dumas needed his last race, and March to the Arch, like so many of these others, really, really enjoys a good fight.

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“Oh, he’s had some tough trips and fought his way through, all right,” trainer Mark Casse said of March to the Arch, a 5-year-old Live Oak Stud homebred whose narrow victories within the last year came in the Grade 2 Wise Dan and the Sunshine Millions Turf. “That’s the nature of these turf races, and this one sure has the look of another scrap.”

March to the Arch had been intended for the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile, but that race was canceled along with the rest of the Keeneland meet because of the coronavirus crisis.

“This is the only game in town, right?” said Casse.

March to the Arch will break from post 3 under Tyler Gaffalione, who like many of his riding colleagues will be looking to save as much ground as possible while maintaining a prime stalking position. That’s more easily said than done, since rivals such as English Bee, Ballagh Rocks, Sombeyay, and Dr. Edgar all would seem to harbor a similar strategy.

A trio of horses returning from layoffs – Smart Remark, Social Paranoia, and El Tormenta – all could show more early speed than normal, given how fresh they’ll be. Smart Remark, in particular, could find himself winging out front after having competed mostly in turf sprints last year, establishing the kind of pace that’s liable to set the stage for a stretch runner such as Mr Dumas, Hembree, or Louder Than Bombs.

El Tormenta is one of the many difficult horses to gauge in this group. His Woodbine Mile score for owner-breeder Sam-Son Farm came at 44-1, and given the five-month layoff and his post-12 assignment, it’s hard to judge how he’ll match up here.

In all, 16 are entered in the Appleton, with only as many as 12 being permitted to start.

This is the 68th running of the Appleton, which honors the memory of Arthur I. Appleton, the late businessman and owner-breeder who founded Bridlewood Farm prior to his death in 2008. As race 13, scheduled post time is 6 p.m. Eastern.