Novo Sol preps for a return to stakes
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Novo Sol’s appearance in Friday’s featured eighth race at Gulfstream Park is expected to set him up for a return to stakes action in Canada.
Novo Sol is part of a competitive field of eight older horses for the conditioned allowance that carries a claiming option of $62,500. It will be run over 1 1/16 miles on the local synthetic surface, Tapeta.
Novo Sol spent some time racing at Woodbine last year and his efforts included a close third in the Grade 2 Autumn in November. He enters Friday’s race off a seventh-place finish in the Grade 2 Pan American, a 1 1/2 miles turf race in which he set the pace to the later stages April 1 at Gulfstream. It was his first out since December.
“He needed that race,” said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. “He goes in this race in good order. Hopefully we can use the race as a stepping-stone to take him to Canada for stakes.”
Joseph, who is based at Gulfstream, has a division of horses stabled at Woodbine this meet. Last year, he had ventured to the Toronto-area track with some horses for select races.
“We won a couple of stakes,” Joseph said. “It was our first year [to race] at Woodbine. This is our first year keeping a barn up there.
“They have some graded stakes on the Tapeta for horses like Novo Sol. If they like it, they like it.”
Novo Sol is 2 for 2 over Tapeta at Gulfstream, among his wins on the surface an overnight handicap at one mile and 70 yards last July. He will break from the rail under Edgard Zayas.
“I think his best distance is probably like mile and an eighth, a mile and a quarter,” Joseph said. “He likes the Tapeta a lot.”
Novo Sol, a 6-year-old who was Group 1-placed in his native Brazil, races for Daniel Alonso. The horse will be back on Lasix after racing without the diuretic due to graded stakes protocols.
Onenightstandards is seeking to win his third straight race. He ran at this distance on the synthetic track last out at Gulfstream and for his effort in the $35,000 starter allowance May 11 he earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 91. It’s the best last-race number in the field Friday.
Mark Casse trains Onenightstandards for Gary Barber. Edgar Perez has the mount from post 4. Last out, Onenightstandards raced closer to the pace than usual, tracking in second and going on to a 2 1/4 length win.
Journeyman, who was second to Onenightststandards in the starter allowance in May, also returns Friday. Journeyman is out of the multiple Grade 1-winning mare Tout Charmant, who earned $1.7 million.
Iron Works, whose two career wins have come on dirt, makes his first start on a synthetic track. The 4-year-old son of Distorted Humor races for Spendthrift Farm and MyRacehorse and is trained by Todd Pletcher. Spendthrift Farm is located on Iron Works Pike in Lexington, Ky.
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