Last Leaf has edge in Azalea Stakes
Last Leaf will be looking to further enhance her high stature among the local ranks of 3-year-old filly sprinters when she goes favored Saturday in the $75,000 Azalea Stakes at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
Trained by Ron Spatz for the Monarch Stables of Frank Bertolino, Last Leaf was a 3 1/2-length winner of the Game Face going 6 1/2 furlongs over the Gulfstream main track four weeks ago. That effort followed a trio of turf stakes that included a late-running victory in the Melody of Colors toward the end of the championship meet.
Miguel Vasquez, the leading jockey at the spring-summer meet, has a return call on Last Leaf, who will break from the outside post when she makes a slight stretchout to seven furlongs in a field of seven. The daughter of Not This Time has won 5 of 13 starts and earned $227,902 while typically registering Beyer Speed Figures in the mid- to upper 70s.
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The Azalea, once part of the annual Summit of Speed package, is carded as the eighth of 11 races on a Saturday program that starts at 12:25 p.m. Eastern. Post time for the feature is 4:08.
If Last Leaf regresses off her big Game Face score, the Azalea could fall any number of ways.
Rapturous (post 1, Luca Panici) was third in the Game Face and has never been worse than fourth. She also has been reaching the mid-70s Beyer range in the more recent of her nine starts. She’s one of several plausible challengers to Last Leaf, along with Poiema (post 2, Edgar Perez), Ha’ Penny (post 4, Junior Alvarado), and Stellar Ride (post 5, Edgard Zayas).
Also carded for Saturday is the Hallandale Beach (race 10, 5:16), an overnight handicap in which leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. appears to hold all the best cards, as he is represented by four of the nine older horses in the $55,000 race at a mile and 70 yards on Tapeta. Foremost among Joseph’s contingent is Ramsey Solution, whose last-out victory in a similar June 18 race figures to make him a decisive favorite. Joseph also has Renaisance Frolic, Calibrator, and Novo Sol in the lineup.
A 60 percent chance of rain and temperatures in the high 80s are forecast for Saturday in South Florida. Turf racing at Gulfstream is on hiatus until further notice.
Gulfstream races Fridays through Sundays.