Scar looks ready to cap improvement with an allowance win

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There will be several new wrinkles in play when racing resumes following a four-day hiatus Friday at Gulfstream Park, including a new claiming rule and a purse increase of approximately 10 percent across the board that ups the value of the afternoon’s co-featured allowance races to $52,000 apiece. In addition, post time for Friday programs has been moved to 2 p.m.

Friday’s headliners are both carded under identical first-level allowance conditions – the seventh race for 3-year-olds and up over the main track and the eighth race for fillies and mares on the turf.

A field of six will contest the seventh event. led by Scar, a vastly improved son of Kantharos who exits a strong second-place finish under similar conditions five weeks earlier. The performance was flattered after race winner Pro Quality returned to finish a close third in an overnight handicap here last Saturday. Scar, haltered for $12,500 as a 3-year-old in late August by trainer Steve KIesaris, matched his career-best 86 Beyer Speed Figure in his last effort.

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Klesaris said he claimed Scar because his Ragozin numbers were fast for the level he was running at.

“He’s a long, rangy kind of horse with a lot of reach who looked like would be a late developer, and I think we’re seeing that in his last few starts,” Klesaris said. “He just seems to get better with each successive race.

“It sure was perfect timing, this race coming up and coinciding with the purse increase,”

Scar drew the outside post for the race and will be ridden for the third straight time by Emisael Jaramillo.

“I feel even better about our chances the way that horse who beat us came back and ran the other day,” Klesaris said. “I also liked the fact we drew the outside post. It gives the rider a good chance to see how things develop in front of him.”

Also in the field is Wandering West, who ran third behind Scar five weeks ago, beaten 3 1/2 lengths. Wandering West broke a step slowly and raced wide while making his local debut and first start at as far as a mile.

Completing the lineup are Hard Lighting, who launches his 2021 campaign as a first-time gelding, Crea’s Bklyn Law, Pugin, and Secret Touch.

The eighth race lured seven fillies and mares with the lightly raced Snow Shower and Una Luna the top contenders.

Snow Shower, who began her career in her native England, finished fourth in her U.S. debut here on April 4, 8 1/2 lengths behind wire-to-wire winner Katama Moonlight after a bit of a tardy beginning. Trainer Patrick Biancone will send Snow Shower out with the addition of blinkers on Friday off a strong-looking five-furlong turf work in company with her graded stakes-winning stablemate Sole Volante.

Klesaris has a dozen horses, mostly Florida-breds, bedded down locally with his wife and assistant, Lillian. He has his main string stabled at Delaware Park with plans to send several over to Monmouth Park for the summer.

“It’s advantageous to keep mostly the Florida-breds here,” said Klesaris. “I gave our best one, Lionessofbrittany, a little break after she finished second in a stakes in her last start. She should be back in here to resume training at the end of June.”

◗ With work on the installation of the new Tapeta track set to begin on June 7, a couple of weeks earlier than originally planned, horsemen were informed Wednesday that five-furlong turf races would be suspended for two to three weeks. The racing office said it would try to offer as many as those races as possible prior to the start of that work, while adding that two-turn grass races would not be affected by the project.