Nicks has 'em surrounded in Florida Sire Stakes

Ralph Nicks won the first leg of the male division of the Florida Sire Stakes series earlier this month with a gelding named Phantom Ro. When the second leg in both divisions are run Sept. 2 at Gulfstream Park in south Florida, Nicks will be trying to make sure he has sufficient numbers.

Nicks said this week he intends to run a total of six 2-year-olds between the two FSS events – four in the $200,000 Affirmed for 2-year-olds, and two in the filly division, the $200,000 Susan’s Girl. The seven-furlong races are the next stepping-stones on the way to the FSS finales – the $400,000 In Reality and $400,000 My Dear Girl – on Sept. 30.

On Aug. 5, Phantom Ro was a 2 3/4-length winner of the six-furlong Dr. Fager, while his Nicks-trained stablemate Soutache was third in a three-way photo with Dunk (second) and Majestic Secret (fourth). All four are expected back when they stretch out slightly in the Affirmed, as is the distant fifth-place finisher, Kingston Pike, also trained by Nicks.

Nicks said he intends to enter Phantom Ro, Soutache, Kingston Pike, and debut winner Capital S in the Affirmed. For the Susan’s Girl, he will enter Pantyhose and a maiden, Harbin Ice.

Go Astray, a 10-1 winner of the filly opener, the Aug. 5 Desert Vixen, heads the prospective list of starters for the Susan’s Girl. Awesome Mass, second by a nose over Pantyhose, also was confirmed this week by trainer Stanley Gold for the Susan’s Girl, despite having torn a quarter at the start of the Desert Vixen.

Entries for the Sept. 2 card will be drawn Wednesday.

Rainbow 6 among Sunday highlights

Lacking so much as one allowance race, the Sunday card at Gulfstream consists exclusively of claiming or maiden races. Easily the richest of 11 races is a $53,000 maiden special weight that goes as race 4. First post is 1:15 p.m. Eastern, with the Rainbow 6 sequence starting with race 6 (3:54). Entering the Friday card, the Rainbow 6 carryover was at $16,279.

After Sunday, Gulfstream goes dark for three days before an extended five-day race week starts Thursday. Racing will be held next Monday (Sept. 4) because of the Labor Day holiday.

The three-month summer meet runs through Sept. 30.