Mr. Ripple back after brief illness
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. wanted to give another of his promising young horses a shot at the Kentucky Derby trail before circumstances intervened.
Instead, Mr. Ripple will run two days before the Fountain of Youth Stakes when among six 3-year-olds trying to get through their first allowance condition in the Thursday feature at Gulfstream Park.
Mr. Ripple, with Edgard Zayas riding, will break from post 3 in the eighth of nine races, a $72,000 allowance going 1 1/8 miles on the main track. A smashing debut winner here in October, the lone subsequent start for the Dialed In colt came in a Jan. 8 allowance in which he was beaten a nose for second by Litigate, the eventual winner of the Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs for Todd Pletcher.
Mr. Ripple “got sick after that last race and missed some time,” explained Joseph, who began this week with a 31-28 edge over Pletcher at a Championship meet that runs through April 2. “We had actually considered the [March 11] Tampa Bay Derby if this race didn’t go, but it did – and it makes the most sense anyway.”
Mr. Ripple got an 80 Beyer Speed Figure in his last start, which fits well within a competitive range. Four of his five Thursday opponents own career-high Beyers from 75 to 82, meaning there’s unlikely to be a decisive favorite when the latch is sprung about 3:38 p.m. Eastern. First post is 12:10.
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“We think a lot of our horse,” Joseph said of Mr. Ripple, a $115,000 purchase as a 2-year-old last April by Legacy Stable. “He got into a duel last out, and I liked that he came back on. It looked like he was beat, but then he fought back and barely got beat for second by the horse that came back to win the Sam Davis, so that was encouraging.”
Joseph has had starters in two of the last three runnings of the Kentucky Derby – Ny Traffic was eighth in 2020, and White Abarrio was 16th last year after winning the Florida Derby. He doesn’t have a whole lot cooking right now toward the 149th Derby – his two starters in the Holy Bull run here Feb. 4 were West Coast Cowboy, a surprise third at 58-1, and Lord Miles, a dull sixth at 3-1.
Joseph has a second 3-year-old in the nominal Thursday feature in Run Cory Run (post 2, Jose Ortiz), while Pletcher counters with Point Proven (post 4, Luis Saez), a disappointing last-out fourth in a January allowance at Tampa following a stumbling start. Shug McGaughey also could have a say when saddling Game Change (post 6, Tyler Gaffalione), who got a field-high 82 Beyer in his last-out maiden victory on a perfect trip.
Joseph said he would have liked to make a quick trip to his native Barbados on Saturday, when he’ll be represented by two starters, Tallahatchie Bridge and American Diamond, in the Barbados Gold Cup. Alas, work will keep him at Gulfstream.
“I’ve got too much going on here with morning works and everything,” said Joseph, who at age 22 in 2009 won the Barbados Triple Crown with Areutalkintome. “I’ll definitely be watching the live feed on the website [barbadosturfclub.org].”
The purse for the feature is actually advertised at $86,000, although that includes $14,000 in Florida-bred bonuses. All six starters are Kentucky-breds.
Some 30 minutes earlier, nine filly-mare turf sprinters will go five furlongs in a $73,000, second-level allowance carded as race 7. Love and Money (post 7, Gaffalione), beaten a nose for this same condition Jan. 18, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in a lineup that also has the Irish-bred Minaun (post 6, Irad Ortiz Jr.) as a prime contender. The race most likely stays on the grass as scheduled, given the forecast of more warm and dry weather in South Florida this week.
Both allowances are part of the Rainbow 6 (races 4-9), the popular 20-cent wager that will be forced out Sunday for the first time since Jan. 29. Through last weekend, the Rainbow 6 has gone unswept by a solo winning ticket since the last forceout, a span of 20 racing days. The actual carryover was $1,024,831 when a five-day race week began Wednesday with a $1.3 million pool guarantee.
‘Cyclone’ gets second chance
Trainer Dale Romans couldn’t find a thing wrong with Cyclone Mischief after the colt finished a dull seventh as the 6-5 favorite in the Holy Bull. The Into Mischief colt was the easy winner of the Jan. 8 allowance in which Litigate was second and Mr. Ripple third.
“We’re just putting a line through the Holy Bull,” Romans said. “This is his chance to redeem himself.”
With Gaffalione riding from post 9, Cyclone Mischief is listed at 12-1 in a field of 10 set for the 77th running of the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth on Saturday. The Pletcher-trained Forte (post 4, Irad Ortiz Jr.) is the 7-5 program choice when making his seasonal debut as the reigning divisional champion.
The Fountain of Youth is the last of 14 races (post, 5:43) on a blockbuster program that includes eight other stakes (seven graded) and starts at 11 a.m.
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