Not much separating Tumbarumba, Steal Sunshine in Ghostzapper Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The rubber match between Tumbarumba and Steal Sunshine will be the major focus of attention when the pair meet again, this time around two turns at 1 1/16 miles, in Saturday’s $150,000 Ghostzapper Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Despite the imposing presence of the likely favorites, who accounted for the Grade 3 Fred Hooper (Tumbarumba) and Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile (Steal Sunshine) earlier this winter, the Ghostzapper is anything but a two-horse race. The field also includes the lightly raced but undefeated Donegal Forever; veteran statebred stakes winner Lure Him In; Grade 3 winner Il Miracolo; and Group 1 Chilean-bred winner Mbagnick.

The Skipper Too and X Y Point complete the lineup.

Tumbarumba rallied to a nose decision over Castle Chaos with Steal Sunshine finishing a troubled third, less than a length back, in the Hooper. Steal Sunshine avenged that setback four weeks later in the Gulfstream Mile, rallying from last to hang a nose setback on the game but hard-luck Tumbarumba, who disputed a very honest pace from the outset.

The key to the duo’s third encounter could be the longer distance and added turn they will negotiate after competing out of the one-mile chute in their previous two starts. Neither Tumbarumba or Steal Sunshine have ever won a race around two turns.

That fact does not seem to concern either Brian Lynch, who trains Tumbarumba, or Bobby Dibona, who will send out Steal Sunshine.

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“Hopefully we’ll be able to reverse this little rivalry this time and I don’t think the extra bit of distance will hurt him,” Lynch said of Tumbarumba, who has yet to win in four starts around two turns. “He’s run well around two turns before, he likes to stay on when he’s in a dogfight, and I actually think it’s to our advantage going farther.

“It’s been a great meet for us so far and winning another stakes with Tumbarumba would be a great way to finish it.”

Steal Sunshine has competed six times around two turns without a victory, although he did finish fourth going 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday in his 2023 finale and third at the same distance last summer in the Grade 3 Iselin at Monmouth Park.

“He’s been a bit of a tricky horse to figure out distance-wise. I always thought he’d run all day, which is why I ran him as a 3-year-old in the Florida Derby, and I thought he ran very well that day,” said Dibona. “The way he finished in [the Gulfstream Mile] suggests the extra sixteenth certainly shouldn’t bother him and from the looks of the field, we should have a lot of pace to run at, which is also key to his success.”

Donegal Forever was an impressive and well-graded debut winner going 1 1/16 miles for trainer Todd Pletcher last spring at Belmont Park, but did not run again until returning to post a popular and hard-fought allowance win at the same distance in a race decided over a sloppy track here Feb. 18.

“This is a little bit of an ambitious placing off just two starts but he’s a very talented horse and I thought he ran well off the layoff over a track I don’t think he relished,” said Pletcher, “although at the end of the day he probably wants a mile and an eighth, maybe farther.”

Lure Him In, winner of the Sunshine Classic for Florida-breds going 1 1/16 miles in his 2024 debut, will make his first start since being purchased privately and transferred to leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. following a second-place finish in an allowance six weeks earlier.

Sir Shackleton

Vivir Con Alegria and Implementation, second and third, respectively, behind Grade 2 winner and odds-on favorite Kingsbarns in an allowance here earlier this month, may actually be facing softer competition despite stepping up into stakes company in Saturday’s $125,000 Sir Shackleton Stakes.

The seven-furlong Sir Shackleton lured a very well-matched field of nine that also features the Grade 2-placed Long Range Toddy.

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Vivir Con Alegria set a rapid pace and gave Kingsbarns all he could handle before succumbing grudgingly in late stretch to drop a half-length decision in his 2024 debut. A Group 2 winner in his native Chile, Vivir Con Alegria finished a neck in front of Implementation, who rallied from just off the leaders to finish third. Both horses were awarded career-best Beyer Speed Figures of 90.

Long Range Toddy disputed a hot pace of his own when launching his campaign in the Gulfstream Park Sprint, vying for command to midstretch before weakening to finish five lengths behind the late-striding winner Run Classic.

Long Range Toddy’s best effort came at Keeneland in the fall of 2022, when he was beaten a neck by Manny Wah in the Grade 2 Phoenix.

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