Sire Stakes winners Soutache, Starship Bonita to take it easy

MIAMI – Hopefully everybody got a good look at Florida Sire Series winners Soutache and Starship Bonita on Saturday, because it’s not likely either will be seen again for a while.

Trainer Ralph Nicks said Soutache has already been sent home to GoldMark Farm, where he’ll be given plenty of time off following his victory in the $400,000 In Reality Stakes.

Soutache, a homebred son of Backtalk, has won three of his four starts. He also captured the seven-furlong Affirmed division of the series, with his only setback a third behind stablemate Phantom Ro in the six-furlong Dr. Fager.

“He’s gone home for a vacation,” said Nicks, who became only the third trainer in Florida Sire Stakes history to sweep all three legs of the open division with two different horses. “He had an exceptional campaign in a short period of time. It’s hard to get any horse, let alone a 2-year-old, to compete at a consistent level running four races back to back to back like that, just 28 to 30 days apart. That was one of the reasons I was a little nervous before the In Reality, especially coming off such a huge performance in his previous race. I expected him to bounce. He did to some degree, but he was still able to win and do it going a mile and one-sixteenth.”

Soutache earned one of the highest Beyer Speed Figures of any 2-year-old in the country to this point in the year, an 89, for his win in the seven-furlong Affirmed. He received a 78 Beyer for his two-turn debut in the In Reality.

“At the end of the day, seven-eighths to a mile may be his best distance,” Nicks said. “But he won at a mile and one-sixteenth, so it’s obviously something we’ll have to try again next year.”

Nicks will be in New York on Saturday with another of his 2-year-old prospects, the undefeated Caledonia Road, who’ll make her stakes debut in the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont. Caledonia Road, a daughter of Quality Road, rallied to a 2 3/4-length victory going seven furlongs over a muddy track last month at Saratoga making her debut.

“She’s a big, leggy filly who started maturing mentally in her last work at Belmont and just continued to get better through the summer,” Nicks said. “It’s not easy for a 2-year-old to win first time going seven-eighths and do it over an off track. With her running style, I think she’ll relish a mile.”

Trainer Steve Dwoskin said Starship Bonita returned to the track Wednesday following her triumph over the odds-on Dessert Honeys in the $400,000 My Dear Girl Stakes, but that he won’t even consider looking at the stakes schedule for at least several weeks. Starship Bonita won two of the three legs of the filly division of the Sire Stakes, having also outlasted Dessert Honeys to capture the seven-furlong Susan’s Girl.

“She came out of the race well, but after two hard races like that in less than a month, I don’t see her running back too quickly,” Dwoskin said. “We’re absolutely not considering the Breeders’ Cup. That would be too much to ask of her. She only just ran against Stallion Stakes horses. The Breeders’ Cup is a whole different ballgame. It’s way too early to tell if she’s that kind yet.”