Mo of the West tries to turn tables in Ginger Punch

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mo of the West will try to avenge her third-place finish behind Shifty She in last month’s Powder Break Stakes when the pair top a well-matched field of eight Florida-bred fillies and mares set to contest Saturday’s $75,000 Ginger Punch at Gulfstream Park. The headliner tops a 12-race program with first post set at 12:20 p.m.

Mo of the West returned from a four-month hiatus to finish a length behind Shifty She in the one-mile Powder Break, rallying mildly before hanging a tad near the end. Despite coming out on the short end of the decision, Mo of the West earned an 85 Beyer Speed Figure, a career best, with her numbers continuing to climb in the right direction in her last three starts dating back to a troubled fifth-place finish in the Cellars Shiraz last fall at Gulfstream Park West.

The Powder Break will be only Mo of the West’s second try with Florida-breds in nearly a year. She finished second, beaten a neck by Bienville Street, who also is a member of the Ginger Punch lineup, in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf in her 2021 debut.

“She had run hard and there wasn’t a whole lot for her so we gave her a break after the Sunshine Millions,” said trainer Mark Casse. “And I think she came back better for it. She might have come up a tad short in her last start but she’s been getting a little better and better with every race and I expect her to move forward again on Saturday.”

Mo of the West will receive a four-pound weight shift from Shifty She in the rematch.

Shifty She outran her odds while running far and away the best race of her short career, parlaying a perfect pace-stalking trip into a neck decision over the 8-5 Morning Molly making her stakes debut in the Powder Break. The win was the fourth in six starts for the 5-year-old daughter of Gone Astray, who joined trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.’s barn after returning from more than a year layoff earlier this spring.

Shifty She will share highweight of 126 pounds under the allowance conditions of the Powder Break along with Bienville Street and Summering and is one of two horses Joseph will send postward along with Lovely Luvy, who is idle since finishing third, two lengths behind Summering, in the restricted Distaff Turf on March 28 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Summering returns for the first time since her game effort to win the Distaff Turf by a hard-fought head over Classy Woman, posting a career-best 87 Beyer in her first start since a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon at Del Mar nearly eight months earlier. Due to medications restrictions in stakes races run locally, Summering will compete without Lasix for the first time.

Bienville Street has fallen out of form since her hard-fought victory in the Sunshine Millions Turf, finishing off the board in her last three starts, including a non-menacing sixth-place effort in the Powder Break.

Sun Summers, the idled Key Biscayne, and maiden Forbidden Dream complete the field. Heiressindy was entered for main track only.

◗ Casse has kept 30 horses stabled at Palm Meadows since the end of the Championship meet in early April, although he said those numbers could dwindle when he ships a string of horses to Del Mar for the summer.

“I’ve been using Gulfstream a lot more this year for my younger horses. We’ve already had some good success in the 2-year-old races,” said Casse. “I like getting them started down there, and I have a fair amount of Florida-breds this season.”