Promising 3-year-old Collaborate among stakes horses dotting Sunday card

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There may be no stakes racing Sunday at Gulfstream Park, but there are still plenty of stakes-caliber and stakes-tested horses scattered throughout the four allowance events on the 10-race program. They include Heiressall (fourth race); Liza Star, Bramble Berry and Merseyside (seventh); and Sugar Fix and Queen of God (eighth), as well as Collaborate and Princess Secret (ninth). Post time is 12:50 p.m.

Race 9: Perhaps the most intriguing horse on the card is Collaborate, who went postward the second choice behind favored Greatest Honour in the Grade 1 Florida Derby. Collaborate entered the Florida Derby off a 90-Beyer, 12 1/2-length maiden win, but could not overcome a troubled start or the mile and one-eighth distance, finishing a tiring fifth. He returned in a more modest spot while turning back to 6 1/2 furlongs seven weeks later, but again had some issues at the start and finished third behind stablemates Moonlite Strike and Lauda Speed in the Roar Stakes.

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Collaborate has worked sharply, brilliantly at times, prepping for his return on Sunday, which comes under first-level allowance conditions going a mile. He will also have the benefit of being back on Lasix for the first time since graduation day.

Collaborate’s competition includes the two-time stakes winner Princess Secret, who closed out her juvenile campaign with wins in the seven-furlong Susan’s Girl and 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl. As was the case in her last start, when she finished third going 6 1/2 furlongs here on May 14, Princess Secret will be the only filly in the lineup.

Race 4: Heiressall drops back into the allowance ranks for the first time since posting a 2 1/2-length victory 13 months earlier. Since that time, the Florida-bred daughter of Wildcat Heir has posted a pair of statebred stakes tallies in seven tries. She finished fourth in the 6 1/2-furlong Musical Romance on May 29.

Heiressall turns back to 5 1/2 furlongs to take on just five rivals for a $53,000 purse. Her chief rivals include Starship Nala, who outran her 36-1 odds finishing a solid third after making a strong middle run in a seven-furlong allowance dash on May 23, and Royal Meghan, returning to a more suitable spot after being overmatched in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie.

Race 7: Liza Star looks for her second straight victory while taking advantage of the optional-claiming clause in the conditions of the seventh race, a six-furlong allowance for fillies and mares. Liza Star is the only member of the six-horse lineup who will race under a $25,000 claiming tag. A winner of two of her last three starts, Liza Star looms the horse to catch breaking from the rail.

Bramble Berry and Merseyside figure as key contenders, having finished second and third in the Musical Romance. They chased home the Princess Rooney-bound Sound Machine in the sprint for Florida-breds. Awesome Annmarie also demands respect, having captured her last two starts by a combined 11 1/2 lengths but against lesser competition.

Race 8: Queen of God, winner of Turway Park’s Bourbonette Oaks last year at 3, and Sugar Fix, beaten less than a length in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf here during the Championship meet, top a field of nine fillies and mares slated to go one mile on the grass in the eighth event. Sugar Fix will likely go postward the solid favorite off a game one-length starter-allowance win four weeks earlier for leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.

Trainer Tom Proctor sends out a pair of last-out winners in Global Brand and the lightly raced Drapes. The field also includes Dance d’Oro, making her turf debut, and the in-form Jabuticaba, whose presence figures to assure an honest pace.