Joseph holds strong hand in pair of allowances
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A pair of allowance races for older fillies and mares will close Sunday’s Gulfstream program, the first to be decided at 6 1/2 furlongs on the main track, the finale carded at a mile and 70 yards over the Tapeta. The co-features offer purses of $51,000 each.
As seems so often the case around these parts, especially this time of year, leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. will be prominent in both races. He sends out Qualy as one of the top contenders in the eighth race and Towser as the likely favorite in the nightcap.
Qualy returns to her preferred surface and has been freshened since showing early speed after a bit of a tardy beginning before finishing fifth under similar conditions over the Tapeta course March 26. The rest seems to have done the daughter of Quality Road some good, as she appears to be working up a storm in the morning over the past five weeks at the Palm Meadows training center, posting a pair of bullet drills along with a near black-letter 46.80-second half-mile in her final prep for her return on June 17.
Qualy, who drew the rail in each of her two previous outings, is well drawn on the outside in the compact six-horse lineup and figures to be a pace factor from the outset along with Joya Del Sur and Simplify, the latter coming off a distant second-place finish against slightly softer starter-allowance company in her most recent start.
The biggest question mark in the field is the Chilean-bred Millie, who makes her U.S. debut for trainer Amador Sanchez and also shows some fast works on her résumé since arriving locally during the winter.
Towser will look to make amends after finishing second as a 3-5 favorite against similarly conditioned opposition May 27 when run down in the final sixteenth of a mile by Thataint Tooshabby, who earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 72 that day and then flattered the effort when returning to improve that number by eight points finishing second when stepping up against tougher opposition.
Towser will take on six foes, including a trio of last-out maiden winners, the Sanchez-trained Roman Flame, Jan’s Girl, and Principia; and Sensitivity who she bested by a half-length in their previous encounter.
Roman Flame and Jan’s Girl graduated by four and 6 3/4 lengths, respectively, with Roman Flame likely to be a major pace factor along with Principia and Damaso. Jan’s Girl would likely prove a beneficiary if things heat up on the front end, having rallied to her easy win last time while making her first start in nearly six months for trainer Laura Cazares.
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