Shakhimat ($25.40) notches upset in Tropical Turf

Shakhimat registered his first stakes win in more than 20 months when pulling an 11-1 upset Saturday in the 39th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Tropical Turf at Gulfstream Park in south Florida.

Sent to the lead by Edgard Zayas down the backstretch of the one-mile turf race, Shakhimat turned back all challenges in winning by a length over Galton, with Tower of Texas another half-length back in third. The winner returned $25.40 after finishing in 1:36.03 over a firm course.

The victory was the first in a stakes for Shakhimat, a 4-year-old Ontario-bred gelding, since he captured the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland in April 2016. He is trained by Roger Attfield, who owns him in partnership with Dan Gale and William Werner.

Blacktype, the 2-1 favorite in a field of eight older horses, was shuffled back on the backstretch and still had no other horse beat until rallying furiously to narrowly miss catching Tower of Texas for third.

On Leave wins My Charmer

An hour earlier, On Leave ($3.60) took almost the length of the stretch to push past a stubborn Gianna’s Dream before finally coming through as a popular favorite in the Grade 3, $100,000 My Charmer.

Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., On Leave always had good position in the one-mile turf race. Poised to strike down the stretch, she wore down Gianna’s Dream in the final 100 yards to prevail by a neck and finish in 1:35.35.

“She kept giving it to me and she’s the kind of filly that can go a little farther, too, so I knew she’d be all right at the end,” Ortiz said.

Bred and owned by Stuart Janney, On Leave now has won seven of 14 starts, with five wins coming in stakes. The lone prior graded victory for the gray 4-year-old daughter of War Front came in the Grade 2 Sands Point in 2016.