Royal Palm meet begins; Imonra tries shorter race

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The landscape of the South Florida racing circuit will change dramatically starting Thursday with the Championship meet in the rearview mirror and the Royal Palm session set to kick off and run through Sept. 1.

Racing will be conducted on a four-day-per-week schedule, Thursday through Sunday, to open the session with post time at 1:10 p.m. daily. The meet will be highlighted by the second running of the $120,000 Royal Palm Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies stakes, both carded at five furlongs on turf.

The races will again provide the winner with an automatic berth in one of the six juvenile races at the upcoming Royal Ascot meet along with a $25,000 equine travel stipend. Last year’s Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies winner, Crimson Advocate, went on to win the Group 2 Queen Mary at Ascot for trainer George Weaver.

Saffie Joseph Jr., coming off a third consecutive Championship meet training title, should pick up right where he left off to begin the Royal Palm meet. He has entered horses in four of the eight races on Thursday’s card, including Imonra, the one to beat in the afternoon’s main event, a $62,000 allowance and optional-claiming dash for older fillies and mares to be decided at six furlongs on the main track.

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Imonra returns to the allowance ranks following a steady diet of stakes competition over her last five starts, beginning with a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Iowa Oaks at Prairie Meadows last July. Although winless during that period, Imonra did finish second to launch her winter campaign in the one-mile Rampart here Dec. 30 and will get significant class relief exiting a seventh-place finish in the Grade 3 Royal Delta in her most recent start.

Imonra will be turning back to six furlongs on Thursday for the first time since finishing third in a maiden special weight dash when making just her second career start as a 2-year-old in December 2022.

“From a pedigree standpoint, on the dam’s side, I think six furlongs is probably what she wants to do,” Joseph said. “I believe she really wants to go a little further, maybe seven-eighths to a one-turn mile, but we’re going to give this a shot to see if we can make this an option moving forward.

“There’s a lot of speed in the field. That should help. The only concern is that it might be just a little too short for her. But she’s doing well, and I think she will be tough to beat.”

Three of Imonra’s five rivals have good early foot and are likely to set an honest pace. That group includes Cousin Kristi, Drifaros, and Music City Star.

Drifaros finished second after setting the pace into the stretch competing under similar conditions going 6 1/2 furlongs in her last start. The race was her first since finishing a distant second behind Grade 1 winner Society in the Grade 3 Chicago Stakes early last summer at Ellis Park.

Music City Star, like Imonra, will be dropping out of stakes competition having finished far back in both the Grade 2 Inside Information and Aqueduct’s Correction in her last two outings after defeating allowance company going seven furlongs by two lengths in gate-to-wire fashion in her 2024 debut here Jan. 6.

Love Appeals is stakes-placed twice in her last three starts for trainer Christophe Clement, all those races coming on turf. She has trained forwardly for her main-track debut, earning the bullet going five furlongs in each of her last two works on the dirt at Payson Park.

Joseph easily takes training title

Joseph sent out 66 winners, including three in graded stakes, during the Championship meet, dominating the standings with Todd Pletcher a distant second with 37 victories. Joseph also sent out Catalytic to finish second best behind Pletcher’s Fierceness in Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby.

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Irad Ortiz Jr. posted a pair of upset victories on closing day aboard Invigorated ($19) and Miss Speedy ($29.20) to close the meet with 119 winners. The riding title was his fifth in the last six years. Thirteen of Ortiz’s winners came in stakes, seven of which were graded.

Ortiz’s brother, Jose, outlasted Paco Lopez by two winners to finish second in the standings. The riders closed the meet in style with three victories apiece on Sunday’s program.

Ken Ramsey claimed the owner’s title with 27 wins.

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