Many variables to consider in sprint feature
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Handicappers will have a lot to ponder when trying to sort out Thursday’s $51,000 main event at Gulfstream Park, most notably what to do with Anna’s Dream, who may go postward a tepid favorite despite returning from a 4 1/2-month layoff, and how to deal with Chilean-bred stablemates Practica Cat and Soy Una Dama in their U.S. debuts.
The headliner is carded for fillies and mares and will be contested at six furlongs over the main track.
Anna’s Dream has not started since winning a similarly conditioned allowance race restricted to Florida-breds on Dec. 2. She led throughout to register a two-length victory over Adios Baby, who is among her five Thursday rivals.
The win was the fourth in seven starts for Anna’s Dream, who returned from an almost identical layoff last year to capture a $30,000 conditioned claiming dash to cap a three-race winning streak that had begun late in her 2-year-old campaign.
Jockey Leonel Reyes will get the return call aboard Anna’s Dream for leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.
Practica Cat and Soy Una Dama are certainly no strangers, having finished first and second, respectively, in their final starts in their native Chile in December. They have been work mates on several occasions recently leading up to their U.S. bows.
Practica Cat defeated her stablemate by a half-length in a 3-year-old stakes going 6 1/2 furlongs in their only previous meeting. A daughter of Practical Joke, she was a Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed earlier last season. Soy Una Dama was a five-time winner from eight starts at 3 but finished far back in her only try against graded stakes competition in Chile.
The fillies are trained by Amador Sanchez, who has paired them up in the morning for some fast works, including a half-mile in 46.80 seconds here May 2.
Like Anna’s Dream, Rachel’s Rock exits an impressive statebred allowance triumph, surviving an early speed duel before drawing off to a convincing 3 1/4-length decision for which she earned a career-best 74 Beyer Speed Figure on March 22. With regular rider Reyes opting to stick with Anna’s Dream, trainer Ralph Nicks has reached out for Edwin Gonzalez, a logical choice considering Gonzalez had guided his filly to an easy maiden win one year ago.
Adios Baby, a statebred allowance winner in her own right, and Beautiful Karla complete the compact lineup.
Zayas to return Sunday
Jockey Edgard Zayas, who suffered a hairline fracture of his jaw but escaped more serious injuries after a nasty spill here April 23, is expected to begin riding again Sunday, his agent, Tito Fuentes, said Monday.
Zayas was unseated from his mount, the Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Chapalu, entering the clubhouse turn of a high-priced conditioned claiming race on the turf and appeared to have been run over by several other horses in the field.
“He needed to wait until the fracture had healed completely to start riding again, but we’re hopeful he can return Sunday,” Fuentes said. “It all depends on if the right races go. Edgard will start getting on horses this week and begin with a full riding schedule the following Thursday.”
Zayas’s colleague Chantal Sutherland, unfortunately, will be sidelined for a more extended period of time after fracturing the humerus bone in her left arm from the base of her shoulder up to the collarbone when catapulted off her horse, Haruki, while pulling up after finishing fourth in the English Channel Stakes on May 6.
Sutherland said the incident was precipitated by her horse being spooked by geese wandering on the racetrack on the clubhouse turn. She said she’s spoken to Gulfstream track officials about the dangers the geese on the racetrack continue to pose for horses and riders alike.
“I spoke to former rider Aaron Gryder [currently vice president of industry relations for 1/ST Racing] about the situation feeling, as an ex-jockey, he would understand the problem and he told me he is going to make a point of doing something about it to help avoid similar incidents in the future,” Sutherland said.
Sutherland underwent surgery to repair the injury on May 8 and said the best-case scenario is for her to be able to begin galloping horses again in about six weeks.
“I’m undergoing therapy and hyperbaric chamber treatment and I’m on a special diet to both help hasten the recovery and to try to stay as fit as best I can while not riding,” said Sutherland, who had hired Jimmy Riccio as her agent this summer at Monmouth Park.
Sutherland will be at Pimlico this weekend to cheer on Super Chow, a horse she’s guided to four victories including the Hutcheson Stakes in his last start here March 18, in Saturday’s Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Stakes.
◗ Reyes was the riding star here Saturday, winning four races to extend his lead atop the jockey standings. He has 33 victories entering the new week and is followed by Emisael Jaramillo (25 wins) and Edgard Perez (23).
Reyes just missed winning Sunday’s Mr. Steele Stakes when nailed on the wire aboard Saratoga Flash by Max K. O. Both the winner and runner-up are trained by Joseph, who continues to dominate the trainer standings at the current session.
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