Miss Emelina may try different tactics in turf allowance feature

Mike Trombetta is one of maybe a dozen or so trainers who would not be active in south Florida this summer if not for the way the racing circuit has been reconfigured. The dramatic shift to far more racing at Gulfstream Park than Calder is the only reason Trombetta has maintained a string of horses at the Hallandale Beach track.

“The idea is to help support it during the ‘offseason’ and give myself a foothold for the winter,” he said Friday by phone. “I’ve got about 10 horses down there and hope to build the business.”

Trombetta, based primarily in Maryland since he began training 25 years ago, will be represented in the nominal feature Sunday at Gulfstream by a 3-year-old filly named Miss Emelina, one of a handful of contenders in what shapes up as a well-matched turf allowance.

“She’s trained well since disappointing us in her last two,” Trombetta said. “The [two-back] race on an off track I can forgive, and then the last one, we just had to kind of send her to try to overcome the outside post. We’re going to see if she can’t rate a little more kindly this time and use some different tactics.”

Miss Emelina, second in an ungraded turf stakes at Gulfstream in mid-June, will break from post 3 as one of 10 fillies and mares (including one main-track-only designee) in the ninth of 10 races, a $39,000, first-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles. The card starts at 1:15 p.m. Eastern, with the feature set for 5:30.

The entire Gulfstream card can be seen via live streaming on drf.com.

KEY CONTENDERS

Magical Steps (Last 3 Beyers: 80-73-61)

◗ She has been assigned the advantageous hedge slot when making her second start in the care of standout trainer Marty Wolfson. A three-month layoff begs a question, but Wolfson’s numbers in the category are terrific (30 percent). A repeat of the May 31 stakes effort makes her awfully tough here.

Maydell (Last 3 Beyers: 72-70-74)

◗ This steady filly draws favorably in post 2 for the high-percentage trainer-jockey tandem of Peter Walder and Ramsey Zimmerman and simply has the look of one of the main players.

Miss Emelina (Last 3 Beyers: 30-24-70)

◗ Trombetta: “She’s actually a nice filly. I didn’t really like how she tanked in that last one, but I know she’s better than that. We’re looking for a good one this time.”

Golden Finish (Last 3 Beyers: 70-72-64)

◗ She adds blinkers after finishing third in the same July 31 race in which Maydell was second. Top two lifetime Beyer Speed Figures have come since trainer Bill White moved her over to grass.

Kandhara (Last 2 Beyers: 75-72)

◗ She is very lightly raced compared to the rest, but this 3-year-old showed promise in both of those efforts against maidens and appears to match up well on this requisite raise.