Renaisance Frolic the highweight in competitive overnight handicap
One of the most competitive events on Monday’s special Memorial Day program at Gulfstream Park is also the richest race of the day, a $70,000 overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and up that lured some of the premier turf horses in South Florida. Only six pounds separates the top nine members of the 11-horse lineup, with Renaisance Frolic assigned high weight of 123 pounds.
The race is scheduled to be run at one mile. There is a 50 percent chance of rain in the forecast for the local area on Monday.
Trainers Saffie Joseph Jr., Mike Maker, and David Fawkes will each be represented by a pair of starters in the main event, all six of whom are more than capable of winning on their best day. The field also includes trainer Mark Casse’s up-and-coming Chuck Willis, who has won his last three starts dating back nearly a year and is third on the weight list at 121 pounds.
The Joseph-trained Renaisance Frolic earned top weight off his second-place finish behind Grays Fable in the Grade 3 Appleton Stakes at Gulfstream on March 27. The 90 Beyer Speed Figure he earned that day matches the number he received for defeating $50,000 claiming opposition by 1 3/4 lengths in his only other start this year.
Renaisance Frolic is joined in the lineup by stablemate Noble Indy, who was claimed by Joseph for $35,000 out of a win on Feb. 24. A horse for the course, Noble Indy has posted two wins and three seconds from six career starts over Gulfstream’s turf course.
Maker counters the Joseph pair with Me and Mr. C and Blameless. Me and Mr. C is weighted just behind Renaisance Frolic at 122 pounds, having registered three consecutive victories to launch his 2021 campaign, all at Tampa Bay Downs. He capped off that streak with a half-length triumph in the nine-furlong Turf Classic for Florida-breds on March 28. In his only start since, Me and Mr. C finished third in a starter allowance over the Gulfstream turf on May 2.
Blameless had some early trouble and finished second as the 3-2 favorite behind Chuck Willis in an allowance race five weeks ago.
The Fawkes duo is led by Over the Channel, who has split decisions with Me and Mr. C in his last two starts. Over the Channel finished third, two lengths behind Me and Mr. C in Tampa’s Turf Classic, and second, 1 1/2 lengths in front of Me and Mr. C in that May 2 starter allowance.
Fawkes also sends out Louder Than Bombs, whose form has tailed off since his second-place finish in the Mr. Steele overnight stakes late last summer.
Chuck Willis was idle 20 months before embarking on his winning streak with an easy victory going five furlongs over Woodine’s synthetic surface in June of 2020. He registered a similarly one-sided victory over the same track one month later before taking another lengthy hiatus, and returned to beat Blameless and five others going 7 1/2 furlongs under allowance conditions at Gulfstream making his south Florida debut on April 22.
Vow Me Now will likely try to play catch-me-if-you-can once again while stepping out of the starter-allowance ranks. He’s captured two of his last three starts in wire-to-wire fashion for trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. The field also includes Sand Dancer, Caramel Chip, and Art G Is Back.