Large fields for six Gulfstream turf stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – For anybody who likes stakes racing with big fields – and who doesn’t? – Gulfstream Park is the place to be on Saturday. The 11-race program features six stakes, all on the turf, with 14 starters in four of those events, including the $100,000 Allen Jerkens and the $75,000 Tropical Park Derby, which will close out an outstanding card that kicks off at noon Eastern.

Archer Road is one of the starters in the two-mile Allen Jerkens with previous success around at least three turns, having captured the 1 1/2-mile Copingaway Stakes here in July. The former claimer has had only two starts since then, winning an overnight stakes at a mile on Sept. 29 before finishing third in the 1 1/16-mile Sunshine Millions Turf Preview seven weeks ago. And it’s the lack of recent action, not the grueling two-mile distance of this race, that has trainer Stanley Gold the most concerned.

“He’s doing great, but it’s just been a long time since he’s run,” said Gold. “It’s pretty tough to go two miles without any prep in between. I really would have liked to have had a race, but I’ve had to train him up to this instead.”

Archer Road was entered in the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 15 but wound up on the also-eligible list and did not draw into the race.

Among the most accomplished three-turn runners in the Allen Jerkens field are Soglio, Nessy, and Camp Creek, who comes off a victory against lesser opposition at 2 1/4 miles in fall at Woodbine. Soglio is one of two key contenders in the Allen Jerkens for trainer Mike Maker, along with the stakes-placed Cullum Road.

Tropical Park Derby

In earlier days, when it was run at Calder Race Course, the Tropical Park Derby typically served as the first derby of the new year, with a roster of winners that includes Barbaro (2006) and Mecke (1995). Now, the Tropical Park Derby serves as the final local opportunity of the season for 3-year-olds to pick up a stakes win.

There are plenty of talented turf specialists in the evenly matched, 14-horse lineup.

The field is led by five-time stakes winner Therapist, idle since his seventh-place finish in the Grade 3 Saranac last summer at Saratoga. Therapist captured the Cutler Bay Stakes and finished third in the Grade 3 Palm Beach over this course last winter.

Among Therapist’s chief competition are a pair trained by Mark Casse: Grade 3 winner Lookin to Strike and the multiple stakes winner He’s Bankable.

Lookin to Strike brings a three-race win streak into the 1 1/16-mile Tropical Park Derby, including a neck decision in the Grade 3 Ontario Derby at Woodbine. He’s Bankable won the English Channel Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths here in May, but has not started since a disappointing showing four weeks later in the Grade 2 Penn Mile.

Janus Stakes

The first of the six stakes on the card, the $100,000 Janus features a matchup between the well-traveled Vision Perfect and local turf-sprint champion Pay Any Price. The pair were scheduled to meet earlier this month at Tampa Bay Downs in the Turf Dash, but that duel never materialized after Pay Any Price lost his rider, ran off, and was scratched.

Vision Perfect proved a wire-to-wire winner of the Turf Dash in his first start since finishing far back in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. The Grade 3 winner finished third behind Successful Native in the 2017 Janus.

Pay Any Price brings a four-race win streak into the five-furlong Janus, with three of those victories coming in stakes.

Abundantia Stakes

The filly counterpart to the Janus, the Abundantia lured 14 starters, including Fire Key, who won stakes at Laurel and Belmont Park with trainer Pat Kelly before shipping to south Florida and into the barn of Joe Catanese earlier this month. Fire Key’s connections will be hoping for rain, as both of her recent stakes tallies came over yielding courses.

The Abundantia lineup is loaded with stakes winners. Morticia, Code Warrior, Miz Mayhem, Girls Know Best, and Smiling Causeway are among the top contenders. Morticia and Smiling Causeway are both poorly drawn, with the former on the rail and the latter in post 14.

Tropical Park Oaks

No shortage of contenders in the $75,000 Oaks for 3-year-old fillies. The race rematches Hogans Holiday, Go Noni Go, and American Frolic, the first, second and fourth finishers last month at Gulfstream Park West in the Cellars Shiraz Stakes.

The locally based fillies will face a bevy of talented Northern contenders, including Grade 3 winner Andina Del Sur, third in the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant here last winter; trainer Graham Motion’s stakes-winning 3-year-old filly Peach of a Gal; She’s Pretty Lucky; Mrs. Ramona G.; Too Charming; Semper Sententiae; and Angel of Mischief.

Via Borghese

The multiple graded stakes winner Holy Helena, winner of the Grade 3 The Very One here in March, will race on Lasix for the first time when trying to snap a four-race losing streak in the 1 3/16-mile Via Borghese for fillies and mares.

The field also includes Grade 3 winner Tricky Escape, making her first start since being transferred to trainer John Servis; the Peru Group 3 winner Si Que Es Buena in just her second U.S. appearance; and the Grade 1-tested and multiple graded stakes-placed Danceland.

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