HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - As was the case a year ago, Lightning Tones rallied from last to successfully defend his title in the $75,000 Sunshine Classic, readily running down the 2024 winner Lure Him In to register a decisive 3 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile race for older Florida-breds Saturday at Gulfstream Park. Lightning Tones was trained by Carlos Narvaez to victory in the 2025 Classic and to a subsequent third-place finish in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile for owner Jose Castro, who claimed the horse for $16,000 here in July 2024 and assumed training duties after taking out his own license last spring. Lightning Tones was reserved at the rear of the compact five-horse field around the opening bend by jockey Jose Morelos before gradually advancing to closer contention in the run down the backstretch. He engaged the leaders three wide at the five-sixteenths pole, and edged clear into the stretch before steadily increasing his advantage through the final furlong. Lure Him In stalked the pacesetting Hades, gained a brief advantage after six furlongs, but proved no match for the winner. It was another 2 3/4 lengths back to the tiring Hades, who held the early advantage while racing in the deeper-going along the rail. :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  Lightning Tones completed the distance over a fast but somewhat laboring track in 1:45.45 seconds and paid $7.80. "He’s an amazing horse, beautiful,” Castro said. “Last week, his final breeze, Morelos (Jose) really liked it.” Souper Zonda, making her first start against Florida-breds, wore down the pacesetting Rugelach to earn her first stakes victory, posting a half-length win in the $75,000 Sunshine Turf.  It was another three lengths farther back to Ashima, who won this event a year ago. Souper Zonda came into the Sunshine Turf off arguably her best race yet, a fourth-place finish as a 58-1 outsider in the Tropical Park Oaks in her 3-year-old finale. She was ridden for the first time on Saturday by Tyler Gaffalione, who picked up the mount due to the absence of her original rider John Velazquez.   Breaking from the extreme outside, Souper Zonda raced in closest attendance to Rugelach, who sprinted away to a commanding early advantage while setting a lively pace, completing the opening half-mile in :46.45 seconds over the firm course. Souper Zonda began to cut into the lead approaching the stretch, then responded to a couple of sharp right-hand sticks to finally overtake the tiring leader in the final strides. Souper Zonda handed Rugelach her third straight frustrating loss. She had also finished second against open optional claiming and allowance competition both at Del Mar and Tampa Bay Downs in the final two starts of her 2025 campaign. Ashima, who led at every call to upset the 2025 Sunshine Turf, never got into early contention in defense of her title, racing near the rear of the field before rallying belatedly to finish third. Spirited Boss, the somewhat surprising 6-5 favorite, finished a non-threatening fifth. Souper Zonda, a Live Oak Plantation homebred by Curlin, completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:33.32 and paid 14.60 for her third win in seven lifetime starts. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.