Petulante looks to build on debut romp

Another three-day race week at Gulfstream Park comes to an end Sunday with a pair of first-level allowances anchoring a nine-race card that starts at 12:25 p.m. Eastern.

Race 8 seems the better of the co-features, partly because of the 90 Beyer Speed Figure posted by the likely favorite, Petulante, in his career debut last month. Trained by Victor Barboza Jr. for Lugamo Racing Stable, the 3-year-old colt ran off to an eye-catching 9 1/4-length triumph in that lone prior appearance and shows a couple of recent half-mile works in gearing up for an eagerly awaited second start.

Edgar Perez has a return call on Petulante, a gray son of the late Arrogate. They’ll break from the outside post in a field of eight going seven furlongs on the main track.

A fellow 3-year-old, Felix (post 6, Edwin Gonzalez), looks like the top threat to Petulante, given the Beyer pattern of his last three races (84-77-77) and the four local works the Cupid colt has turned in for trainer Ralph Nicks since his last start two months ago.

Smiling Teufles (post 7, Edgar Prado), third or better in all but one of his nine starts this year for Danny Hurtak, is another possibility in a solid lineup.

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Race 6 matches eight 3-year-old fillies, most of them with stakes experience, in a Tapeta race of a mile and 70 yards. Miss You Ella, most recently second as the favorite behind Omixochitl in the Miss Gracie on July 23, could go postward a slight favorite leaving from post 8 with Edgard Zayas aboard for Saffie Joseph Jr., the runaway leading trainer at the current spring-summer meet.

Margeaux Romance (post 5, Leonel Reyes), fourth as the front-runner in the Miss Gracie, is among the top challengers, along with Love Her Lots (post 4, Miguel Vasquez), a three-time winner who’ll be donning blinkers for the first time.

Purses for both races top out at $51,000, including $7,000 in bonuses for registered Florida-breds.

Both co-features are part of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (races 4-9), which was last forced out Aug. 13.

Mostly sunny skies and a high of 90 are in the South Florida forecast for Sunday. Live action resumes Friday after four dark days.

◗ Trainer Bobby DiBona is still contemplating his next move with Steal Sunshine, winner of the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby last Sunday in Kentucky. The 3-year-old Constitution colt “is getting better and better and more settled,” DiBona said.

Meanwhile, another Florida shipper that won an Ellis stakes on Sunday, Last Leaf, will remain in Kentucky with trainer Eddie Kenneally for her next two races, the Open Mind and Raven Run. Last Leaf, a 3-year-old Not This Time filly owned by the Monarch Stables of Frank Bertolino, is now a five-time stakes winner for locally based trainer Ron Spatz after capturing the $100,000 Audubon Oaks at Ellis.

◗ The highlight of next weekend at Gulfstream is the $65,000 Proud Man, a 5 1/2-furlong Tapeta race for 2-year-olds. The next six-figure stakes are the $200,000 Susan’s Girl and the $200,000 Affirmed on Sept. 3.