Scarlet Sands, a 3-year-old filly trained by Carlos David, will switch to synthetic for her stakes debut in the $75,000 Miss Gracie Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Saturday. She will be one of several contenders with questions to answer over the surface. “She’s a 3-year-old in a 3-year-old fillies stakes,” David said. “It makes sense. I know it’s on the Tapeta, but I don’t why she won’t handle it.” David claimed Scarlet Sands from Chad Brown in February for $75,000 out of a race in which stumbled out of the gate and lost her rider. It was a scary way to kick off a new partnership, but she avoided injury during the incident and David was undeterred by the setback. After two starts in maiden special weights in the spring, David decided to give her class relief in a $50,000 maiden-claiming race in late April. She went unclaimed in a solid 1 3/4-length victory, executing a perfect stalking trip in a deep 10-horse field. It took her six tries to finally win her first race, but she responded immediately against winners last month, taking a $57,000 allowance with an eerily similar trip behind the early leaders. Her improvement in recent months has been modest, but she has undeniably been making her own luck utilizing her tactical speed. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “I don’t see a lot of speed in here,” David said of the Miss Gracie. “I would love to have somebody to run to, but I don’t know. She’s pretty handy.” Scarlet Sands is one of four fillies in the field of six making their synthetic debut. She has made her last five starts under highly consistent conditions, running at a mile on firm Gulfstream turf, but David is willing to take the chance at a mile and 70 yards on a new surface. It certainly helps that most of her 3-year-old rivals are taking the same risk. Annie Goodbody will be taking a shot on Tapeta in her return to stakes company for trainer Armando De La Cerda. In four stakes attempts on turf, two in New York as a juvenile and two in Florida as a 3-year-old, she never finished better than sixth. But after a disappointing start on dirt in May, she returned to the grass and improved to finish second in a $35,000 starter allowance. Olivia Valentina, trained by Rodolfo Garcia, is another turf runner making the switch in the Miss Gracie. She made her first start against winners as a 12-1 shot in the $75,000 Martha Washington last time out and held her own, finishing third behind two-time stakes winner Starship Impulsive. Special Aviator, winner of the $75,000 Our Dear Peggy as a juvenile, finished fourth behind Scarlet Sands in June for trainer Rohan Crichton, but she could turn the tables on a new surface. She is one of two runners in the field with synthetic experience, along with outsider Oxar, and won her debut on the surface as a 2-year-old. Earlier this month, she finished third behind improving runner Miss Mary Nell in a $57,000 synthetic allowance. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.