Noble Indy, Largent among stakes-quality runners in Friday allowance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Gulfstream Park spring-summer stakes schedule doesn’t officially begin for another several weeks, but a stakes-quality field – and a full one, at that – has been assembled for a $52,000 allowance test for 3-year-olds and up going about 7 1/2 furlongs on turf.

The 12-horse field includes the rail-drawn 7-year-old Noble Indy, a Grade 2 winner on dirt earlier in his long and successful career, and his former stablemate Largent, a Grade 2 winner in his own right and more notably runner-up in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Turf last year. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Largent will break from post 11 as the solid favorite dropping back against allowance company for the first time in more than two years.

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In between, the field includes the speedy graded stakes-placed California invader Sash; graded stakes-placed Bourbon War; stakes winners Omaha City, Me and Mr. C, and Fighting Force; and the up-and-coming Voodoo Zip. Even the also-eligible list is a good one, featuring stakes winner Winfromwithin as well as the stakes-placed pair of Over the Channel and Order and Law.

Noble Indy won the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at 3 before switching almost exclusively to grass during the summer of 2018. Noble Indy eventually dropped into the selling ranks a little more than a year ago and changed hands on a couple of occasions before winding up in the barn of trainer Gustavo Delgado this past winter. He has been rejuvenated lately upon returning to his preferred surface following a couple of races over Tapeta. Noble Indy held his own against Grade 3 company when finishing fourth in the Canadian Turf and more recently sixth, beaten 4 1/4 lengths, in the one-mile Appleton earlier this month.

Largent was sidelined nearly a year following his huge effort in the 2021 Pegasus Turf, when he was beaten just neck by stablemate Colonel Liam. He has made two starts on the comeback trail, finishing a fourth as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 3 Tropical Turf here and a tiring seventh after racing within easy striking distance to midstretch in the Grade 3 Fair Grounds. Those efforts marked the first two times Largent has finished worse than second in a dozen lifetime starts.

Sash shipped here as part of a string trained by Jeff Mullins over the winter and has looked good training up to his East Coast debut. Three of his five local works have come over the Tapeta. Sash closed his 2021 campaign finishing third after making all the pace in the Grade 3 Berkeley Handicap over the synthetic surface at Golden Gate in November and remains winless over his last 13 starts. His last victory dates back to an allowance race going a mile on turf at Santa Anita in January 2020.

Voodoo Zip needed eight starts to finally win his maiden here last spring, but has won twice more and not been off the board in four subsequent outings. Trained by Christophe Clement, he has been idle since winning a six-furlong second-level allowance dash Oct. 5 at Belmont Park.

A couple of other races merit attention on Friday’s program, including a one-mile allowance event for fillies and mares that features Beth’s Dream, who captured her two starts during the Championship meet by a combined 18 lengths following a 14-month layoff.

The finale is a six-furlong maiden optional-claiming dash that attracted 11 3-year-olds. The field is led by Hammer Lane, a sharp second behind the odds-on Vive Bien in his only start, and five intriguing-looking first-time starters.