Juveniles go two turns on turf in Pulpit, Wait a While

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher holds the upper hand Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $75,000 Pulpit Stakes for 2-year-olds, while his former assistant Jonathan Thomas may have the horses to beat in its filly counterpart, the $75,000 Wait a While. Both races are carded at 7 1/2 furlongs on the turf.

Pletcher entered Ari Gold and Sendero in the Pulpit. Ari Gold posted a well-graded maiden victory at Aqueduct prior to shipping south for the winter, while Sendero earned his diploma in a restricted stakes this past summer at Colonial Downs.

Ari Gold finished fourth on turf against a strong group when bet to even money at Saratoga in his debut. The winner, General Jim, came back to win an allowance race and place in a stakes. After finishing a tiring fourth contesting a rapid pace over a sloppy track four weeks later, Ari Gold returned to the turf to win his maiden in impressive fashion with the addition of blinkers. He led throughout to register a 2 1/4-length decision while earning an 80 Beyer Speed Figure, easily best among the eight starters in the Pulpit.

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Sendero won at second asking in the 5 1/2-furlong Jamestown Stakes on turf at Colonial on Sept. 7 before stretching around two turns for the first time to finish fifth in the mile and one-sixteenth Awad at Aqueduct on Oct. 29. Sendero will get a set of blinkers of his own for the Pulpit.

Other contenders in the Pulpit include Lights of Broadway and Congruent.

Lights of Broadway has won his last two starts, including the Armed Forces Stakes on Sept. 24. He makes his turf debut in the Pulpit after racing over the Tapeta surface in his first three starts.

Congruent was knocked around and steadied after the start before finishing far back as a 92-1 outsider in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He upset the one-mile Laurel Futurity over a sloppy track five weeks earlier. He also tries turf for the first time Saturday.

Stakes winner Anamnestic, Dangerous Ride, Maximo, and Brumba Waffle Toes complete the field.

Wait a While Stakes

Thomas, who served as Pletcher’s assistant for six years, has a formidable duo going postward in the Wait a While in Grade 2 winner Delight and stakes winner Born Dapper.

Delight earned herself a trip to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf after registering a one-sided victory in the mile and one-sixteenth Jessamine on the turf at Keeneland on Oct. 7. Her 10th-place finish over the same course in the Breeders’ Cup puzzled Thomas.

“We were scratching our heads a little bit after her last race,” Thomas said. “The ground wasn’t quite as firm as it had been for the Jessamine and she ran into a real buzzsaw in the winner. So perhaps it was just a combination of superior competition and a turf course she didn’t appreciate at the time.

“She’s gotten over the Palm Meadows turf course really well in her breezes since the Breeders’ Cup, and hopefully that track will translate to the Gulfstream Park turf course on Saturday. The 11 hole certainly wouldn’t have been the post I’d have chosen for her, but the fact she can be forwardly placed should be helpful to her.”

Thomas described Born Dapper as “a real trier” and said he was happy enough with her effort winning the Selima by 3 1/4 lengths in a race switched from the turf to a sloppy main track on Oct. 1 at Laurel.

“We were trying to get her into the Juvenile Fillies Turf but she missed the cut,” said Thomas. “She probably wants a little more ground, but she’s been breezing right along on even terms with Delight at Palm Meadows, so I thought she deserved a chance in here as well.”

The Thomas duo will face a field that includes Isabel Alexandra, second behind the undefeated Heavenly Sunday under allowance conditions at Keeneland in her last start, and Personal Pursuit, who tries two turns for the first time after finishing a troubled fifth in the Grade 3 Matron going six furlongs on turf at Aqueduct.

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