Nice pick three closes out card

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There are three $61,000 allowance events on Sunday’s nine race card at Gulfstream Park, the most compelling of which is the first of the trio, a five-furlong turf dash for 3-year-old fillies that features Tiffany Gold, an impressive debut winner over the Tapeta strip.

Tiffany Gold was no secret when launching her career on April 12, going postward the 6-5 favorite for trainer Victor Barboza Jr., and she certainly lived up to expectations. She pressed the early pace before edging away to a 1 1/2-length victory for which she was awarded an 81 Beyer Speed Figure. The performance was flattered when the third- and fourth-place finishers, Charlottes Road and Gallop d’Hermes, returned to graduate in their next starts.

The key question for most handicappers will be whether Tiffany Gold will handle turf as well as she got over the synthetic track. Their confidence likely will be buoyed by the fact the daughter of Speightster is a half-sister to Mundle of Joy, a winner of two of her six starts on grass.

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Tiffany Gold will break from the rail, just inside her chief rival Quimichis, who exits a second-place finish under similar conditions on the turf here four weeks earlier. Quimichis, by American Pharoah, rallied from mid-pack before falling three-quarters of a length short of running down gate-to-wire winner Epona’s Hope while posting an 84 Beyer, far and away the best effort of her career.

Leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. will counter the two likely favorites with a key contender of his own, Fairhopecurly, who has been freshened a bit following a subpar effort over the Tapeta on Feb. 8, when she finished last of 11 under allowance conditions. She does have a couple of reasons to improve off the race as she will return to her preferred surface – she’s registered both lifetime wins on grass – while adding blinkers for the first time.

A field of seven older fillies and mares will go 6 1/2 furlongs over the main track in the eighth race with Olga and Miss Ucrania likely to vie for favoritism coming off big efforts in their most recent outings.

Olga did all the dirty work, disputing the pace from start to finish before succumbing grudgingly to the odds-on Hihellohowareyou going six furlongs. She figures to be forwardly placed once again on the stretch to seven furlongs and must avoid a similar speed duel if she’s to get back on the winning track for the first time this season.

Miss Ucrania has captured two of her last three starts, posting a career-high Beyer of 73 in both instances, while working her way through her conditioned-claiming levels. She will be stepping up to face tougher in this spot.

It will be back to the turf for the afternoon’s finale with older fillies and mares again in the spotlight. A wide-open field of 10 is slated to go five panels on the grass, weather permitting.

Trip players might give the rail drawn Huntingcoco an extra look off a gallant effort under similar conditions on April 13, when she finished a game fifth, beaten less than three lengths, despite walking out of the gate and being forced to take up in traffic on the turn.

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The key contenders also include the class-dropping Talkin Tipsy, who has held her own against much better in recent starts, and Ticker Tape Home, who finished just a nose back of Huntingcoco when returning to allowance company for the first time since earning her diploma at Woodbine during the fall of her 2-year-old campaign.

◗ Frankie’s Empire, idle since finishing a distant sixth behind Fierceness in the Florida Derby, worked four furlongs here Friday, completing the distance in 48.97 while in company with stablemate Celtic Pride. Trained by Michael Yates, Frankie’s Empire was an easy winner of the seven-furlong Swale before finishing third in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth earlier this winter.

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