Some in Tieme, Sweetontheladies put in works

MIAMI – The work tab was light at Gulfstream Park on Thursday but did feature a pair of graded stakes horses who figure to see action during the upcoming championship meet – the long-winded, Grade 3-winning turf specialist Some in Tieme and the Grade 1-placed sprinter Sweetontheladies.

Some in Tieme is currently stabled with trainer Steve Towne, who sent the Brazilian-bred to the gate to work six furlongs in 1:17.54 with jockey Manny Cruz aboard. Some in Tieme was equipped with blinkers for the first time during the drill, showing good energy during the latter stages before pulling up a mile in 1:44.72.

“I’ve had him about a month, and I’m still just getting to know this horse,” Towne said. “I wanted to see if blinkers would keep him a little more focused. I was happy and encouraged by the work, considering he is a grass horse breezing on the main track.”

Some in Tieme has lost nine consecutive starts since capturing the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap going 1 1/2 miles on turf, with Cruz up, at Churchill Downs in May 2017. He was transferred to Towne’s barn shortly after finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Sycamore last month at Keeneland.

“I’m still not far enough ahead with him to pick out a spot for his next start,” Towne said. “But he is definitely a route horse, and we’ve got a bunch of route races coming up here this winter.”

Sweetontheladies, who finished third in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt this summer at Saratoga, breezed four furlongs from the three-eighths pole in 51.35 seconds on Thursday. The work was just the second for Sweetontheladies since he rallied to finish third following a slow start in the Grade 3 De Francis Dash on Sept. 22 at Laurel.

“He busted his mouth on the front of the gate and came back cut up and with a mouth full of blood and still ran third at Laurel,” trainer Henry Collazo said. “There was really no place to run him after that race, so I just gave him a little break. I didn’t want to run him this past weekend in the [Sunshine Millions Sprint Preview] because I had Field Trip for the race, and I’d prefer to keep them apart for now since they’re both owned by the same people.”

Collazo said he’s considering sending Sweetontheladies to Aqueduct for the Fall Highweight, after which he’d be pointed to the series of graded turf sprints at Gulfstream this winter.

Field Trip finished a disappointing third as the 3-2 favorite in the Sunshine Millions Sprint Preview, ending a three-race win streak for the steadily improving Florida-bred.

“He had some gate problems as well the other day; he had his head turned at the start,” Collazo said. “We always thought he was a good horse, but he had some little issues, and we just had to wait for him to come around. He’s still got some conditions left, so we’ll probably try to rattle them off first before jumping into deeper waters with him this winter.”

◗ Saturday’s feature is a $42,000 optional claimer scheduled for five furlongs on the turf for Florida-bred fillies and mares. Band of Angels will be heavily favored to extend his win streak to four for trainer Jorge Navarro.

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