Soldado reboots following long layoff

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sometimes when a horse wins is almost as noteworthy as how it wins.

When Soldado won on debut last February, it just so happened that much of the racing world was watching. It was in a six-furlong maiden race that directly followed the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park that the Verrazano colt earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure, making it easy to recall the circumstances of his powerful stretch run.

In a little more than a year, however, Soldado hasn’t gotten much else done. A couple of subsequent starts, both at longer distances, produced somewhat disappointing results, and more than a year later, the Virginia-bred colt is still eligible for a first-level allowance condition.

Fans sifting through the Thursday program at Gulfstream might still remember Soldado from his eye-catching first start, and that should be enough to make the colt a heavy favorite in the featured ninth of 10 races. Having gone unraced for nearly 10 months, Soldado essentially is starting all over again when facing seven other older horses in a $51,000 allowance at six furlongs.

A1A Racing and Let’s Go Stable are the owners of Soldado, who was purchased for a mere $8,000 as a 2-year-old of 2018. The colt posted four workouts last spring in New York following his most recent start at Oaklawn Park in April before trainer Todd Pletcher had to stop on him.

Since returning to training, Soldado has had 10 timed workouts at Palm Beach Downs since late November, and Pletcher is hopeful the colt will be successful in his comeback.

“He’s done well from the freshening,” Pletcher said. “Hopefully, he runs as well as he did in his debut.”

Soldado will have Luis Saez aboard when breaking from post 1 in the only allowance on a card otherwise comprised entirely of claiming and maiden-claiming races. His chief threats are a pair of 6-year-olds – Allurstra (post 4, Paco Lopez), a last-out winner over fellow Florida-breds for Terri Pompay, and The Gipper (post 5, Irad Ortiz Jr.), going turf-to-dirt for Jorge Navarro.

First post Thursday is 1 p.m. Eastern. The feature is part of the 20-cent Rainbow 6, which spans races 5-10 and was expected to offer a $300,000 pool guarantee.

The lone stakes this coming weekend at Gulfstream is Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Suwannee River for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf.