Lafayette, Transylvania attract quality 3-year-olds
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Three-year-olds of the colt-and-gelding kind will precede their female counterparts on center stage Friday at Keeneland when the Lafayette and Transylvania serve as terrific lead-ins to the Grade 1 Ashland.
The $400,000 Lafayette (race 7) marks the eagerly awaited return of Gulfport, who will break from post 1 in a seven-horse field going seven furlongs. The Grade 3, $400,000 Transylvania (race 8) might be the deepest race of the opening-day card, with the turf-course maximum of 12 runners going 1 1/16 miles.
The Lafayette leads off a 3-year-old-exclusive pick four wager (races 7-10) that ends with the featured Ashland (race 9) and a maiden-filly turf route (race 10) with a full field.
Lafayette Stakes
Gulfport was all the rage last summer at Churchill Downs, where he began his career with a seven-length maiden score (83 Beyer Speed Figure) and a 12-length romp in the Bashford Manor (91 Beyer).
After that, however, the Uncle Mo colt was defeated in his next three races, all of them against some of the elite of the 2-year-old division in New York. His trainer, Steve Asmussen, decided against trying him one more time in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland and put Gulfport away for the rest of the year after he finished third in the Grade 1 Champagne on Oct. 1.
“I just thought he’d benefit from getting a break,” Asmussen said earlier this week from Texas. “I think he’s a brilliant horse and we’re really happy to have him back.”
Owned by a partnership that includes longtime Asmussen clients Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Gulfport shows a steady pattern of 10 workouts since Jan. 9, the latest a three-furlong blowout of 38.20 seconds Monday at Churchill.
Ready to give Gulfport all he wants is Hejazi (post 3, John Velazquez), a Bob Baffert trainee with 100 and 99 Beyers from two of his five starts. The Bernardini colt most recently faded to fourth as the pacesetter in the March 4 San Felipe at Santa Anita and now cuts back from that 1 1/16-mile race to a more suitable distance.
The Jerome winner Lugan Knight (post 2, Luis Saez) also is part of an excellent cast, along with Determinedly (post 4, Flavien Prat) and Corona Bolt (post 5, Florent Geroux). Freezing Point and Hurricane J round it out.
Conspicuously missing is Damon’s Mound. Trainer Michelle Lovell had intended the 75th Lafayette as a comeback spot for him but said the Florida-bred colt will return instead April 16 in the $250,000 Palisades going 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf.
“He’s doing fantastic,” said Lovell. “He wasn’t quite ready for the seven furlongs off the layoff.”
Transylvania Stakes
Carl Spackler (post 11, Tyler Gaffalione) and Dude N Colorado (post 12, Irad Ortiz Jr.), the two outside horses, have at least a few things in common. Both colts were bred overseas; both made real progress over the winter at Gulfstream Park; and both will draw strong tote action for powerhouse stables.
This is their first face-to-face meeting, one of numerous subplots in the 35th running of the Transylvania. Carl Spackler, an Irish-bred named for the kooky Bill Murray character in “Caddyshack,” earned a field-high 92 Beyer in a last-out maiden romp for Chad Brown. That’s a few points higher than Dude N Colorado, a British-bred trained by Todd Pletcher, got in his triumph in the March 4 Colonel Liam.
They’ll have plenty of capable opposition to their inside.
Andthewinneris (post 3, Corey Lanerie) won the Grade 2 Bourbon here last fall with a ferocious late run, and although his recent races haven’t been quite as flashy, trainer Wayne Catalano is looking for a return to peak form Friday.
“He’s doing great here and we know he loves this course,” said Catalano.
Candidate (post 8, Rosario) was the runner-up in the Feb. 4 Kitten’s Joy after winning the Jan. 7 Dania Beach at Gulfstream. He is trained by Arnaud Delacour. Mo Stash (post 7, Saez) had a very useful outing when he returned from a four-month layoff with a second in the Columbia Stakes last month. Nagirroc (post 9, Prat), trained by Graham Motion, makes his seasonal debut after a five-race juvenile campaign highlighted by a victory in the Grade 3 Futurity at Aqueduct, and Wonderful Justice (post 4, Geroux) has yet to taste defeat after winning the Black Gold at Fair Grounds for trainer Brad Cox in just his second start.
Top to bottom, this is a race of uncommon substance, one that surely will produce a few starters for the Grade 2 American Turf on the May 6 Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill.
The Transylvania, named for the nearby university founded in 1780, was won last year by Sy Dog in a field of just six. Ortiz was up for Motion.
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