Soros begins 3-year-old campaign in salty optional-claiming mile

A first-level optional-claiming race for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park Friday came up so strong that Aron Wellman, whose Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners is part-owner of contender Soros, dubbed the race “Florida Derby Junior.”

Moreover, Wellman said that Soros, despite having not raced since Nov. 30, would be cross-entered in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Florida Derby to give him and owner-trainer Gustavo Delgado time to evaluate each race.

Soros would be one of several contenders in Friday’s one-turn mile race, scheduled as race 9 on an 11-race program that begins at 1 p.m. The race drew 13 and would be limited to 12 runners. Trainer Ken McPeek said he scratched Mister Candy Ride, who was drawn on the also-eligible list.

Three stakes originally scheduled for Friday have been moved to Saturday’s Florida Derby Day card.

Soros, a son of Commissioner, finished second to Fort McHenry in a Nov. 2 maiden race at Gulfstream Park West. Despite still being a maiden, Soros won the Smooth Air Stakes with a solid off-the-pace run under Edgar Prado.

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“He showed a lot of different dimensions, rated kindly, took dirt,” Wellman said. “He made a big, imposing move from the three-eighths pole to the quarter pole and cruised in from there. He was impressive as though he had something left in the tank.”

Wellman said Soros did have a hiccup in January that delayed his making it back to the races until this week.

“He seems to have had a really excellent month of training,” Wellman said. “Gustavo tried to put a lot of stamina in him in his breezes and he’s done it pretty impressively.”

The race appears to have ample pace for Soros to close into with Miles Ahead, Saratogian, and Ournationonparade in the field.

As Wellman said, this race has plenty of depth. Trainer Todd Pletcher has the uncoupled entry of Money Moves and Silver Ratio in the field. Money Moves, a $975,000 2-year-old in-training purchase by Robert LaPenta and Bortolazzo Stable last April, won his debut in the slop on Feb. 15. After breaking a step slowly, he rushed up between horses, went four wide around the turn and, after changing leads at the sixteenth pole, drew off to win by 1 1/4 lengths.

“Once he found his rhythm and stride he leveled off nicely and finished up strong,” Pletcher said. “The race woke him up a bit. Particularly, his last couple of breezes were improvements.”

Silver Ratio, a son of Liam’s Map, won his debut going six furlongs as the favorite in a 10-horse field at Gulfstream on Jan. 11 and then was third as the 5-2 favorite in this condition on Feb. 22. In the latter race, Silver Ratio was off slowly and got squeezed back and had to rally widest of all, while the eventual winner, Americanus, snuck through the rail.

“I think he’s going to appreciate a little bit of a stretch out, too,” Pletcher said. “We had to rush him both times in shorter races. This is a deep field, a high-quality field for this type of race. A lot of people would have gone in different directions if they had other options. There are lot of nice horses consolidated into this allowance.”

Edge of Fire, a son of Curlin, was a good-looking debut winner for Jimmy Jerkens, who has a high percentage with his second-out starters. Sprawl goes turf to dirt after finishing seventh in the Dania Beach Stakes for Bill Mott.