Roaring Forties pulls front-running upset in Sunshine Turf
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Roaring Forties led every step in pulling a 7-1 upset of the $75,000 Sunshine Turf, the feature of an 11-race Saturday card at Gulfstream Park.
Sent away the second-longest shot in a field of six older Florida-breds, Roaring Forties returned $17 after holding off Hot Blooded in the 1 1/16-mile race, run in 1:40.57 over firm going.
“Beautiful,” said winning jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, who has won nearly 3,400 races in a career dating to 1997. “I’ve been working him on a regular basis and he’s been doing phenomenal.”
The stakes win was the first for Roaring Forties, a 7-year-old gelding, and the first in the U.S. for trainer Katerina Vassilieva, whose four prior stakes victories all came at Woodbine in her native Canada.
“He’s an amazing horse – 7 years and still going strong,” said Vassilieva, based this winter at the Palm Meadows training center. “I’m delighted.”
Hot Blooded finished a half-length behind the winner and another three-quarters of a length before Me and Mr. C, the 2-1 second choice. Max K. O., the 2-1 favorite, faded to fifth after tracking Roaring Forties to the top of the stretch.
Roaring Forties, a chestnut by Stormy Atlantic, now has won six of 24 starts and $280,924 for Borders Racing Stable.
The $75,000 Sunshine Classic was also scheduled for Saturday, but was canceled for lack of entries.
Next Saturday at Gulfstream brings seven graded stakes highlighted by the $3 million Pegasus World Cup, the richest race of the 2022-23 championship meet.
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