Love Her Lots brings Tapeta experience to allowance

A trio of allowance races carded over the Tapeta surface, the best of which drew a well matched field of 3-year-old fillies going a mile and one-sixteenth for a $51,000 purse, highlight Friday’s card at Gulfstream Park. Seven of the nine races on the program will be decided over the synthetic track.

Love Her Lots and Therearenorules, who finished heads apart while fifth and sixth in the grassy Martha Washington Stakes four weeks earlier, should prove the ones to beat returning to allowance company in the main event, race 8.

Love Her Lots may hold the edge over Therearenorules, having had a good measure of success already on the Tapeta surface, while Therearenorules has yet to run on it. Love Her Lots has posted a win and a second in two starts over the course.

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In the Martha Washington, Love Her Lots broke awkwardly and turned in an even effort to finish 4 1/4 lengths behind race winner Sister Lou Ann. Love Her Lots and Spectacular Gal are the only three-time winners in the field Friday.

Therearenorules, trained by Tom Proctor, has made all five starts on turf. She steadied early in the Martha Washington and never was a serious factor down the lane. By Declaration of War and a half-sister to the graded stakes-placed Morning Molly, Therearenorules won her maiden two starts back, rallying to a 1 1/2-length victory while matching her career best Beyer Speed Figure of 72.

Spectacular Gal has a three-race winning streak, all over the Tapeta, although she has not started since proving a game winner of a statebred allowance race on Jan. 2. Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., Spectacular Gal closed out her juvenile campaign with a pair of victories by a combined 16 lengths.

Margeaux Romance has improved with each start since this year and could prove the one to catch exiting a wire-to-wire two-length maiden win over the Tapeta on June 19. She must avoid an early duel with Mi Negrita, who stretches out around two turns for the first time and is also expected to show a good deal of speed from the rail.

◗ In the seventh race, Mia Camila, who was disqualified from a victory under similar conditions on June 11, is the one to beat breaking from the fence. The race is restricted to Florida-bred fillies and mares and will be run at one mile and 70 yards.

Yolanda’s Pride and Oglala crossed the wire second and third behind Mia Camila on June 11 and will test her again. Yolanda’s Pride was impeded by Mia Camila and forced to check sharply in deep stretch, and the stewards decided to disqualify Mia Camila and place her third for failing to keep a straight course.

I Believe in Magic also deserves plenty of consideration returning with statebreds and to the synthetic strip after having been overmatched against open company going a mile on the main track in her most recent outing.