Opposites attract attention in feature race

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The contrast in experience could hardly be any greater when Whyruawesome and Arham square off as prime contenders in the Friday feature at Gulfstream Park.

Whyruawesome, a 10-year-old gelding, will be making his 69th career start, while Arham, a 4-year-old colt, will be making just his second start when they clash in the ninth of 10 races on a Pegasus Eve program that starts at 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

Race conditions for the $47,000, first-level allowance sprint include a $25,000 claiming option, which explains how Whyruawesome is eligible, even with the Kentucky-bred gelding having won 15 of his 68 prior starts. Now trained by Marcial Navarro, he went through his first condition on Aug. 19, 2016, when trained by Conor Murphy, his second of five trainers.

:: Enhance your handicapping with DRF’s Gulfstream Park Clocker Report

Whyruawesome (post 7, Miguel Vasquez) has held form for months now, earning Beyer Speed Figures of 90 and 89 in his last two starts. Those numbers compare favorably to the 91 earned by Arham (post 4, Luis Saez) in a flashy debut in which the Shadwell Stable homebred sped off to a seven-length triumph here Dec. 17.

“It was very professional,” trainer Todd Pletcher said afterward. “He’d been training ahead of his debut like he could be a good horse.”

Whyareuawesome and Arham are among a field of eight older horses in a six-furlong headliner that also drew Untitled (post 1, John Velazquez), who tailed off in mid-summer following some terrific early efforts. The Florida-bred was turned over to Mark Casse when being privately purchased after earning a 98 Beyer in his December 2019 debut at Gulfstream.

“He wasn’t performing the way we thought he should, so we just gave him a little break,” Casse said.

Untitled was good enough to run second in both the Gotham and Woodstock last year at 3 and would seem perfectly suited to the race conditions – but it’s worth noting that the colt has been away six months, having set out on a steady work slate in preparing for his return at Casse’s farm in Ocala prior to being dispatched to the Palm Meadows training center.

“This is a very tough spot he’s returning in,” said Casse, “and the one-hole does him no favors. Sometimes he breaks just a touch slow and needs a little time to get into gear. We’ll see.”

The feature is part of the 20-cent Rainbow 6, which can be expected to have a pool guarantee approaching $1 million, assuming a solo winning ticket did not empty the jackpot Wednesday or Thursday. A $31,000 starter-allowance and a $40,000 statebred allowance directly precede the feature as part of the sequence (races 5-10). Sunshine and a high of 79 are in the forecast.