More icing in the offing for I'll Take the Cake

I’ll Take the Cake won five times in 13 starts last year, was claimed in November for $25,000 and was immediately sold at auction in December for a profit, and then her new and current connections got a win out of her right off the bat in her first start this year. She’s proven to be a profitable commodity wherever she winds up.

She will try to put more frosting on that cake on at Gulfstream Thursday, when I’ll Take the Cake seeks her second straight win and 12th in 47 lifetime starts in the featured 10th race, an optional claimer at one mile for older females in which she will be in for a $50,000 tag.

I’ll Take the Cake, acquired by her current partnership for $35,000, won a $50,000 stakes race, the Lady Bird going seven furlongs on Feb. 17, from which runner-up Liza Star emerged to win a second-level allowance sprint in her next start.

“She stayed on and got the job done,” I’ll Take the Cake’s trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr., said Monday. “Liza Star franked the form of the race, but she’ll have to step up.”

The winner’s share of the purse from the Feb. 17 race almost covered the initial purchase price. If I’ll Take the Cake were to win Thursday and be claimed, she would provide her owners with a return in excess of $100,000.

She’s a pro. I’ll Take the Cake, 6, has finished in the money in 26 of her 46 starts. Tyler Gaffalione, aboard for the Feb. 17 win, has the return call.

I’ll Take the Cake must overcome the rail. She likes to race on or near the lead.

“She’s versatile. She can sit wherever Tyler wants,” Joseph said.

Seven others are in the race, with three others entered – like I’ll Take the Cake – for the $50,000 tag, including Cuddle Kitten, making her first start for Happy Alter since being claimed for $62,500 off Jorge Navarro on Feb. 12, and Crown and Sugar, who would be racing on dirt for the first time but has won 13 of 29 lifetime.

Flat Awesome Jenny has run on late going six furlongs in her last few starts, and should appreciate the extra distance of the one-turn mile.

Gulfstream has an 11-race card on Thursday, with first post listed as 1 p.m. Eastern.

Joseph works 3-year-old pair

Joseph on Sunday worked a pair of his top 3-year-olds – NY Traffic and Tonalist’s Shape – after giving them a brief freshening.

NY Traffic went three furlongs in 37.30 seconds in his first drill since finishing second in the Louisiana Derby on March 21. “He’ll have three more works in the next three weeks and hopefully by then things will be a little more clear on where go to,” Joseph said.

The filly Tonalist’s Shape suffered her first loss finishing seventh in the Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 28, and had her first work since then, going three furlongs in 37.14 seconds. Joseph said he was hoping Gulfstream would have something suitable for her in mid-May.