Irish Honor should enjoy class relief in Thursday allowance
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A trio of allowance races helps spice up Thursday’s 10-race program, the most intriguing of which is carded for 2-year-olds going a mile and could serve as a prep for the first major 3-year-old stakes of the upcoming 2021 season, the Mucho Macho Man, on Jan. 4.
A field of seven juveniles was drawn for the afternoon’s eighth event, including Irish Honor, who ships down from New York after being overmatched in the Grade 3 Nashua, and a couple of recent maiden winners from the barn of trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.
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Irish Honor will seek softer competition after finishing sixth, 16 lengths behind winner Pickin’ Time, in the one-mile Nashua. Irish Honor wheeled back on short rest after having won his maiden at first asking just 11 days earlier at Parx Racing for trainer Joseph Taylor, who’ll put blinkers on the son of Honor Code for his local debut Thursday.
Joseph sends out Moonlite Strike and Kiger, both of whom finished fourth in their career debuts before edging away to maiden tallies, by two lengths and 2 1/4 lengths respectively, in their second starts. Kiger benefitted from the addition of blinkers in his second start while earning his diploma going a mile, making him one of only two members of this field already proven at the distance.
Real Talk, Advance Cash, and Raison d’Air were all one-sided maiden winners but could not duplicate those big efforts against stakes company in subsequent starts.
Real Talk and Advance Cash finished a well-beaten fourth and fifth against statebreds in Gulfstream Park West’s Juvenile Sprint after having won their maidens by six and 7 1/2 lengths, respectively, in their previous outing. Raison d’Air was a 13 1/2-length maiden winner going a mile with the addition of blinkers before tiring to finish a well-beaten fourth in the Armed Forces.
Both the Juvenile Sprint and Armed Forces were decided over sloppy racetracks. The forecast is for clear skies Thursday.
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◗ Fillies and mare will go one mile on the turf in the ninth race Thursday. Trainer Brian Lynch sends out Osaka Girl and Get Rewarded, who are among the key contenders in a field of 11 that includes a pair of main-track-only entrants.
Osaka Girl has run well in all four of her starts this season. She won a maiden race here on New Year’s Day prior to taking a six-month sabbatical. She has returned with three straight runner-up efforts, the most recent going a mile at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 10 behind Confessing, who won an overnight stakes 17 days later at Remington Park.
Get Rewarded is no stranger to local fans, having captured a lower-level conditioned-claiming race here in April. She joined Lynch’s barn during the summer and proved to be an instant success, winning an allowance race at Ellis Park.
Last-out maiden winners Good On Paper and Light Beam, along with the newly blinkered Meadow Beauty, also are major players in a very competitive lineup.