Shamrock Rose tries for Breeders' Cup encore in Hurricane Bertie Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A 12-race program that includes nine stakes will leave horseplayers with precious little down time, but that’s a good thing, isn’t it? A trio of stakes carded in the middle of Pegasus World Cup Day at Gulfstream Park should make for some intense handicapping, not to mention an enjoyable way to kill time leading into the main events.

As a bonus, a Breeders’ Cup winner, Shamrock Rose, will make her 4-year-old debut in one of those races, the $150,000 Hurricane Bertie, which along with the $150,000 Fred W. Hooper and $125,000 South Beach help make up the meat of the card, which begins at 11:30 a.m. Eastern. Shamrock Rose, winner of the BC Filly and Mare Sprint, is one of four Breeders’ Cup winners entered here Saturday, along with Stormy Liberal (Turf Sprint), City of Light (Dirt Mile), and Accelerate (Classic).

Hurricane Bertie (race 7, 2:33)

Trainer Mark Casse hopes 2019 starts the way 2018 ended for Shamrock Rose – with a victory on the national stage.

“She really got good on us last year,” Casse said. “Hopefully, this will be another great year for her. I know she hasn’t missed a beat in her training since she won the Breeders’ Cup.”

Owned by Conrad Farms, Shamrock Rose shows four breezes since getting 30 days off following her 25-1 upset in the Nov. 3 BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs. With Irad Ortiz Jr. back to ride, the Pennsylvania-bred filly surely will be favored in the Grade 3 race, being run at the same seven-furlong distance of the Filly and Mare Sprint.

But an upset from one of her seven opponents would not be implausible. Dream Pauline, Blamed, and Stormy Embrace all have shown the ability to jump up with a big effort.

The Hurricane Bertie is named for the Klein family homebred who retired in 2000 with 14 wins. It leads off the Rainbow 6 (races 7-12) with a guaranteed minimum payoff of $750,000 for a solo winning ticket.

Fred W. Hooper (race 9, 3:38)

A huge day at Gulfstream would not be complete without Todd Pletcher, the reigning 15-time training champion who has won two of the last three runnings of this Grade 3 race with Tommy Macho (2016, 2018). Pletcher brings a strong hand to the Hooper, a one-turn mile on the main track, in the form of Copper Town, whose last-place finish in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile last month might well be an anomaly.

“He didn’t break well and got shuffled back,” Pletcher said. “Everything went out the window at that point.”

In his previous start, Copper Town earned a second straight triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure in an eye-catching allowance win at Keeneland. With a clean trip might, he well might be the one to beat here.

Pletcher also is the trainer of morning-line favorite Coal Front, but he told Gulfstream officials he is likely to scratch the speedy ridgling, possibly in favor of a stretchout next month in the Razorback at Oaklawn Park. His defection would leave a field of no more than nine older horses.

Among the other main players are Aztec Sense, who risks an eight-race win streak in his graded stakes debut after ascending the class ladder for Jorge Navarro, and Breaking Lucky, an earner of $1.1 million and a smashing last-out winner over the local surface.

The Hooper honors the memory of the man who won the 1945 Kentucky Derby with the first horse he ever owned, Hoop Jr., and became a preeminent Florida owner-breeder prior to this death in 2000 at age 102. The race leads off the late pick four (races 9-12) with a $1 million pool guarantee.

South Beach (race 6, 2:02)

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has been considering the Grade 3 Endeavour on Feb. 9 at Tampa Bay Downs for his blossoming turf star Capla Temptress, who was sold privately by Team Valor International to Juddmonte Farms following her flashy victory here last month in the Grade 3 My Charmer. That still might be an option, considering Capla Temptress drew post 13 in the South Beach, which seems a difficult assignment for her and jockey Joel Rosario in this 7 1/2-furlong turf race.

Fortunately for Mott, he would still have a major threat in this full lineup of 14 fillies and mares in Dolce Lili (post 9), a consistent 5-year-old mare who ranks as one of the likely favorites, with or without her stablemate in the race.

Other notables include the lightly raced Road to Victory, who returns from a six-month-plus layoff for Casse with the distinction of having been one of few horses ever to defeat Monomoy Girl, having upset her in the Golden Rod at Churchill when they were 2.