Liza Jane Stakes, Rainbow 6 carryover top card

A mid-week stakes and an allowance race that serves as a prep for the Grade 3 Smile Sprint highlight a nine-race Wednesday program, kicking off a rare five-day race week during Gulfstream Park’s spring-summer meet.

The card also includes a Rainbow 6 carryover of nearly $297,000.

The $75,000 Liza Jane Stakes for 3-year-old fillies takes center stage while also serving as a possible prep for the Azalea Stakes on the Summit of Speed card on June 30. The 6 1/2-furlong Liza Jane attracted just six starters who are led by stakes winners Florida Fuego, Silver Bay, and Writer’s Almanac. Rounding out the lineup are the speedy Luzmimi Princess, who should help assure an honest pace, the up-and-coming Oola Gal, and recent maiden-claiming winner Violent Wave.

Trainer David Fawkes is hoping Florida Fuego can sit the same kind of trip that propelled his Lipstick City to victory in the Christmas Past Stakes last week. Lipstick City sat off a speed duel before slipping inside the tiring leaders to register an impressive win on the turf.

“You certainly couldn’t have scripted the trip my filly got in the turf stakes last week any better,” Fawkes said. “And hopefully we’ll be able to get the same kind of setup for Florida Fuego in this race. There certainly looks like there is plenty of speed in the field.”

Florida Fuego is coming off a dull third-place finish as the 3-5 favorite in a one mile and 40-yard Ivanavinalot Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on May 5. The outing was the first around two turns for the Florida-bred daughter of Kantharos, who rallied to win the seven-furlong Sophomore Fillies at Tampa on March 25.

“She got shuffled really badly into the first turn last time and just ran kind of evenly after that,” Fawkes said. “I was pretty disappointed in the effort because she had gone into the race with a really good work under her belt.”

Fawkes said Florida Fuego has continued to train forwardly since her last start. She’ll have the red-hot Tyler Gaffalione back aboard for the Liza Jane. Gaffalione guided her to an impressive debut win at Gulfstream one year ago.

“Tyler knows her well,” Fawkes said. “I’ve got the Azalea circled in my book for later this month, but she’s going to have to improve in this race if she’s going to come back in there.”

Silver Bay was an instant sensation, winning her first two starts within a two-week span last fall at Gulfstream Park West, including the Juvenile Fillies Sprint while upsetting Starship Bonita, the leader of the local 2-year-old filly division at the time. She has started just once since, finishing far back after prompting the pace in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 31.

Writer’s Almanac won her first four starts, including a Grade 3 stakes, by a combined margin of 33 1/4 lengths at Camarero Racetrack in Puerto Rico before coming back to reality and beating just one rival in the House Party Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 9. She has a series of sharp works dating back to mid-April for her first start since.

Luzmimi Princess is rarely headed during the early stages of her races, although she lost all chance when off poorly in her most recent start, the seven-furlong Game Face on April 21. Luzmimi Princess had trounced entry-level optional-claiming company in wire-to-wire fashion just 15 days earlier.

Like Florida Fuego, Oola Gal would benefit from an honest pace scenario. She enters the race off a career-best performance, a come-from-behind 2 1/4-length decision against statebred allowance opposition going six furlongs one month ago.

◗ Grade 3 winner Three Rules will attempt to bounce back from a disappointing effort in the Big Diamond Stakes when he faces allowance competition for the first time in Wednesday’s sixth race. Three Rules finished a tiring fifth as the 3-2 favorite in the Big Diamond, the first start of his 4-year-old campaign following a winter vacation necessitated by throat surgery.

Three Rules, who will break from the rail for a second straight start, will have his work cut out facing a very strong group that includes multiple stakes winner Quijote, the graded stakes-placed Sweetontheladies, the speedy stakes winner Splash Rules, hard-knocking veterans Cautious Giant and Harryhee, as well as the red-hot Reason to Soar.

◗ Tyler Gaffalione, who rode Got Stormy to victory in the Penn Oaks Saturday evening at Penn National, returned home to win four races on Sunday’s card, including the co-featured Ana T. Stakes aboard the odds-on Curlin’s Approval. The big day has propelled Gaffalione to the top of a bunched leaderboard in quest of the spring riding title with 48 victories entering Wednesday’s card, three more than Nik Juarez and five better than both Emisael Jaramillo and Edgard Zayas. Miguel Vasquez has fallen back to fifth place with 41 wins.