Six stakes showcase future stars

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With 3-year-old racing the major focus, as always, during the 2019-20 Gulfstream Park Championship meet, what better way to kick off the first weekend of the 89-day session than with Saturday’s Juvenile Showcase program? An 11-race card features six stakes, all for 2-year-olds, valued at $75,000 apiece, four on dirt and two on turf. Post time is noon.

While locally based horses make up the bulk of the fields in the six stakes races, there are plenty of new faces in the mix. There are some early arrivals from New York and Kentucky looking to get one final chance at earning stakes brackets before their 2-year-old campaigns are over, and juveniles from the barns of trainers Todd Pletcher, Shug McGaughey, Jason Servis, Graham Motion, Brian Lynch, and Ben Colebrook, just to name a few.

Saffie Joseph Jr. will spearhead Team Florida on Saturday, with key contenders in four of the stakes.

The following is a capsule look at all six stakes in chronological order.

Hut Hut (race 3)

Only seven are entered in this one-mile dirt race for 2-year-old fillies, but the group is a promising one, led by the McGaughey-trained Power Move who ships south off a second-place finish in the one-mile Tempted earlier this month at Aqueduct. Power Move won her only other start, a six-furlong maiden special weight dash at Belmont Park, outfinishing Lake Avenue, who returned to win a maiden race by 12 lengths. Power Move will have the added benefit of racing with Lasix for the first time in the Hut Hut.

Power Move’s opponents include the Joseph-trained Tonalist’s Shape, who is undefeated in two starts; Filly Jean King, a distant second behind wire-to-wire winner Two Sixty in the My Dear Girl Stakes in September; and Ceci Valentina, who has won two stakes and is the only stakes winner in the field.

Joseph is bullish on Tonalist’s Shape’s chances Saturday in her stakes debut, especially at the distance.

Tonalist’s Shape rallied from far back to win a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race here in her debut, and then won a 6 1/2-furlong optional claimer Oct. 20 at Gulfstream Park West.

“She obviously was impressive in her first race, but you never know until they run back if they are legit,” said Joseph, who ran away with the training title at the recent Gulfstream Park West meet. “She ran back and was legit, she’s training well for this race, and I think the longer the better for her.”

Buffalo Man (race 5)

From top to bottom, this six-furlong dirt race for 2-year-olds has one of the strongest fields on the card. The Lynch-trained Kentucky invader Complexifier, a winner at the six-furlong distance in his last two starts, and Went West, who earned high marks drawing off to an easy victory in his only appearance, will likely vie for favoritism. They’ll face a pair of promising locals, the Joseph-trained Ricki Ticki Taffi and the stakes-tested Shivaree.

Wait a While (race 7)

A field of nine 2-year-old fillies goes a mile on turf, with Sunset Promise likely favored off her second-place finish behind subsequent Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Sharing in Laurel’s 1 1/16-mile Selima Stakes on Sept. 21.

Motion, who trains Sharing, will counter Sunset Promise with two-time winner Lucky Jingle in a field that also includes recent stakes winner American Giant and the stakes-placed Fujairah.

House Party (race 8)

Joseph will send out the likely favorite Sound Machine in a modest field of nine juvenile fillies going six furlongs on the main track. Sound Machine was an impressive debut winner here July 28, but must bounce back from a sixth-place finish as the 3-5 favorite in an optional-claiming race last month at Keeneland.

“Her first race was as good as you could ask for,” Joseph said. “The race at Keeneland was very disappointing. We couldn’t get a race for her at Gulfstream, so we decided to ship her to Keeneland and she didn’t run much at all. She got a little rank early in the race and just flattened out.”

Other key contenders in the House Party include the Spanish Point and Kimura.

Pulpit (race 9)

One can probably make a solid case for at least six or seven of 11 horses entered in the Pulpit, a one-mile turf race for juveniles.

The Northern invaders may hold the edge with Nettleton, sixth in the Grade 3 Bourbon at Keeneland in his last start; the Motion-trained stakes winner Irish Mias; and Lookinatamiracle, third over the synthetic surface at Woodbine in the Grade 3 Grey Stakes.

The South Florida-based contingent is led by two-time stakes winner Graceful Kitten, who suffered his first loss when finishing a tiring 13th after setting the pace to early stretch in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and recent runaway stakes winner Captain D.

Smooth Air (race 10)

The $1.1 million yearling purchase Fort McHenry may well be favored in this one-mile dirt race for 2-year-olds off an impressive maiden win four weeks earlier at Gulfstream West. He takes on the more experienced pair of Poe and Peruvian Boy, who both have finished third and fourth in stakes.