Ournationonparade using one-mile handicap as possible prep for Smile Sprint

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With as many as three potential candidates for the Grade 3 Smile Sprint here on July 3, trainer Kathy Ritvo is trying to find suitable prep races where she can, while keeping the trio apart. One of those opportunities comes up Saturday at Gulfstream Park for Ournationonparade, who’ll try to stretch his ample speed out to a mile in race 6, a $60,000 overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and up that drew a field of six including likely favorite Noble Drama.

Saturday’s 12-race card is a strong one and also is highlighted by a $60,000 overnight handicap carded at five furlongs on turf for 3-year-olds and up along with an allowance race for fillies and mares, featuring the 2021 debut of the multiple graded stakes winner Tonalist’s Shape.

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Ournationonparade has won two of his three starts since finishing fifth, a couple of lengths behind winner Double Crown, in last year’s Smile, run on Sept. 5. He has not run since rallying to a victory in an allowance race here March 6. His last three outings have come at six furlongs, the distance of the Smile.

“I think this horse has really changed and matured a lot since last year, and I believe he’s ready to go longer,” Ritvo said. “I feel he can definitely handle a mile. And if all goes well, this could certainly be a prep for him for the Smile.”

Stretching out off a series of sprints, Ournationonparade appears to be the controlling speed Saturday under jockey Paco Lopez.

“I’ll just leave the strategy up to Paco,” Ritvo said. “He rode a great race on this horse last time.”

Noble Drama returns from a four-month freshening, which followed a series of stakes placings against statebred company. A Harold Queen homebred, Noble Drama was the favorite in each of those starts. He has excelled at a mile, having won 4 of 7 at the distance including the restricted Wildcat Heir Stakes under similar conditions here last fall.

The remainder of the field includes the up-and-coming Pro Quality, Florida-bred stakes winner Quenane, Glory of Florida, and Extraordinary.

The 11th event lured a field of nine and is among the most wide-open betting races on the afternoon. The five-furlong turf race is a rematch between Yes I Am Free and Old Chestnut, the first- and second-place finishers in an allowance dash over the turf here April 15. They’ll be joined by Inter Miami; the veteran turf sprinter Tiger Blood; Harry’s Ontheloose, who finished third in the Grade 3 Gulfstream Turf Sprint here this past winter; and R Mercedes Boy, second in stakes over the main track in his last two starts, but with limited experienced on the grass.

Tonalist’s Shape will make her first start since finishing fifth in the Grade 2 Raven Run on Oct. 17 at Keeneland when she squares off against eight other fillies and mares, including the graded stakes-placed Saguaro Row, in the 10th race, to be decided at seven furlongs. Tonalist’s Shape won the Grade 3 Forward Gal and Grade 2 Davona Dale within a four-week span here last winter, but has started only twice since finishing fourth as the 6-5 favorite in the Grade 1 Coaching Club America Oaks last summer at Saratoga.

◗ Ritvo’s other Smile Sprint candidates are Frosted Grace, who finished third last Saturday at Pimlico in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint, and the idled Double Crown, who ran third, beaten less than four lengths, in the 2020 Smile. Those two and Ournationonparade are owned solely or in part by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing.

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Ritvo said Frosted Grace returned home in good shape following his big effort in the Maryland Sprint. He was defeated by three lengths by winner Special Reserve and received a career-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I think it was a big effort for him, considering it was the first time he’d ever shipped somewhere for a race,” Ritvo said. “Like Ournationonparade, I think he’s also getting better as he matures, and if all goes well between now and then, the Smile is a good possibility for his next start as well.”

Double Crown has not run since finishing second behind odds-on Yaupon in the Grade 3 Chick Lang on Oct. 1 at Pimlico. Double Crown is slated to launch his campaign here Sunday in a second-level allowance test, if the race fills.