Red Carpet Ready storms out of layoff to Hurricane Bertie triumph

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Red Carpet Ready was fit and ready returning from an eight-month layoff on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, rallying down the center of the course to a half-length victory over 2-1 favorite Olivia Darling in the $125,000, Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie Stakes.

Red Carpet Ready went to the sidelines after finishing a distant seventh in the Grade 3 Victory Ride last summer at Belmont Park, exiting the race with a “small problem” according to her trainer, George “Rusty" Arnold, that required minor surgery. And while Arnold said he would have liked a little more time preparing his filly for her comeback on Saturday, he also said she was training well and was confident Red Carpet Ready would deliver a top performance.

And that’s exactly what she did.

With regular rider Luis Saez aboard, Red Carpet Ready broke well, then eased off the early pace set by Spirit Wind and stalked from the outset by Olivia Darling. Red Carpet Ready angled out to the middle of the track while commencing her rally leaving the turn, stuck her head in front of the two favorites near midstretch then held sway under strong handling to the end.

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Olivia Darling, who ran the race of her life six weeks ago to win the Grade 2 Inside Information Stakes, prompted the speedy Spirit Wind, gained a short advantage approaching the stretch, fought on gamely between horses through the final furlong, but was not quite good enough. Spirit Wind finished another neck farther back while also succumbing grudgingly after relinquishing her lead.

Unifying, Cheetara, Libban and Dreamster completed the order of finish while never seriously threatening the top trio.

The Hurricane Bertie gave Red Carpet Ready her third graded stakes win. She also captured the Grade 3 Forward Gal in her 2023 debut here last winter and the Grade 2 Eight Belles on the Kentucky Derby undercard last spring at Churchill Downs. She completed 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.09 and paid $10.60.

“She always shows up,” Saez said. “She has a lot of speed, but we tried one time and she didn’t finish the same. So I wanted to just break from there, sit still and make one move.”

Arnold said his first major goal this season for Red Carpet Ready is the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs on the Derby undercard.

*** Coppola overcame some early trouble to register his second stakes win of the 2023-24 Gulfstream Park Championship meeting, rallying from off the pace to a half-length decision over Panther Island and his uncoupled stablemate Yes I Am Free, who dead-heated for second, in the $100,000 Silks Run Stakes.

Big Invasion finished a non-threatening and disappointing fourth as the 3-5 favorite while making his first start since beaten a neck four months earlier in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

The finish of the five-furlong Silks Run mirrored that of the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint, in which Coppola defeated Panther Island by the same margin of a half-length here four weeks ago.

In the Silks Run, Coppola was forced to steady back slightly along the inside leaving the backstretch and again near midstretch before easing out and getting the better of the late-striding Panther Island and tiring pacesetter Yes I Am Free in the final yards.

Big Invasion raced at the rear of the pack, swung wide while attempting to launch a bid leaving the turn, rallied belatedly but never seriously menaced the leaders.

Coppola is trained by Dale Romans for the partnership of Hammer Time stable and S.O.K. Racing. He completed the distance over a firm course in 54.74 and returned $16.20.

“We were in a little bit of trouble,” Romans acknowledged. “This was a pretty tough race for $100,000. You had two Breeders’ Cup horses in there. I was just hoping he got a crack, and he did. He’s so fast leaving there you don’t want to take him back all the time but definitely, if there’s a lot of speed and he can sit off it, that’s the best.”

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