Jacks or Better holds strong hand in juvenile stakes

MIAMI – As has been the case since 2-year-old racing began here back in the spring, trainer Stanley Gold and owner and breeder Fred Brei’s Jacks or Better Farm will be in the spotlight for the six juvenile stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park West. Four of the stakes will be run on dirt and two over turf.

Saturday’s 11-race card is the final one of the Gulfstream Park West meet. Racing will resume in south Florida at Gulfstream Park the following Saturday.

Gold and Brei will be represented in all four main-track races: the one-mile Smooth Air and Buffalo Man for both sexes and the Glass Slipper and House Party for fillies. Fellowship, who won the 2015 In Reality division of the Florida Sire Stakes with an impressive last-to-first rally, will be among the favorites for them in the Smooth Air. Brighton Lane, third in the six-furlong Dr. Fager division of the Sire Stakes in August, runs for Gold and Brei in the Buffalo Man.

Silent Prayer (Glass Slipper) and Ballet Diva (House Party) complete the Gold-Brei contingent. Silent Prayer hit the board in all three divisions of the Sire Stakes and has been in the top three in stakes five times in seven career starts. Ballet Diva, already a two-time stakes winner, will turn back to six furlongs in the House Party after failing to stay 1 1/16 miles as the favorite in the My Dear Girl Stakes.

Silent Prayer’s competition in the Glass Slipper will include the stakes winner Andreya’s Reward, who will try dirt for the first time after finishing far back in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Andreya’s Reward handled the main track well when blowing out an easy three furlongs in 34.52 seconds with Paco Lopez aboard Tuesday.

Ballet Diva figures to have her hands full in the House Party with the speedy Brandy’s Girl, owned and trained by Eddie Broome. Brandy’s Girl cruised to a 4 3/4-length victory in the Juvenile Sprint Stakes on Nov. 7, her second straight one-sided win and her first race at Gulfstream Park West.

The two turf races, the Pulpit for both sexes and the Wait a While for fillies, came up very strong. The Todd Pletcher-trained Mountain Music Man won the Awad Stakes in his turf debut last month at Belmont Park and figures to be favored in the Pulpit. The stakes winner Pancake and the Pletcher-trained debut winner Lira head the Wait a While.