Splash Rules dangerous with clean trip in sprint

Splash Rules would not have won the Smile Sprint even if he hadn’t been shut off and forced to steady by eventual runner-up Reason to Soar as the field came off the final turn. Nobody was beating the odds-on favorite X Y Jet that day. But Splash Rules may have lost the opportunity to become graded stakes-placed with a clean run through the stretch of the Grade 3 dash on June 30, finishing fifth and being placed fourth following the disqualification of Reason to Soar.

Trainer John Vinson is hopeful that Splash Rules will have better racing luck when he wheels back on relatively short rest in Friday’s $48,000 optional-claiming feature at Gulfstream Park. The headliner drew a quality field of nine that also includes multiple stakes winners Mo Cash, sixth in the Smile Sprint, and Diamond Oops, the only 3-year-old in the lineup, along with veteran sprinters Harryhee and Cautious Giant.

The Smile Sprint was the second start on the comeback trail for Splash Rules, who missed nearly seven months before returning to finish fourth after pressing the pace in an event similar to Friday’s feature on June 6. Splash Rules registered back-to-back stakes victories that included a hard-fought half-length triumph in the Groomstick Handicap last Labor Day at Gulfstream.

“He was running a big race, and I thought he had a pretty good chance to finish second or third if he didn’t get bothered as badly as he did at the top of the stretch in the Smile,” Vinson said. “He had run a decent race the first time back off the layoff the time before – he was just a little short – and I expected him to run well in the Smile. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the racing luck.

“I gave him the winter off after he had an ankle fill up after the [Sunshine Millions Sprint Preview] last fall at Gulfstream Park West and didn’t push him too hard to get him back over that track at Tampa Bay Downs while we were stabled there this winter.”

Splash Rules figures to sit a stalking trip behind the speed of Harryhee, who breaks from the rail, and Silver Defense. Harryhee has finished third or better in his last seven starts, all for owner and trainer Brett McLellan, and has been in front turning for home in all but one of those races.

Mo Cash was beaten nearly seven lengths after racing forwardly early in the Smile Sprint while making his first start since being transferred to trainer Aubrey Maragh’s barn during the spring. Mo Cash is a three-time stakes winner and finished a troubled second behind X Y Jet earlier this year in the Sunshine Millions Sprint.

Diamond Oops won both the Kiss a Native and Buffalo Man stakes in four starts last year as a 2-year-old, but has been away since Dec. 9 and faces older horses for the first time Friday.

Cautious Giant, like Harryhee, continues to hold his form extremely well, having finished third or better in nine consecutive appearances dating to August. Eight of those starts came since he was haltered for a bargain $16,000 last fall. Cautious Giant was beaten a half-length when outgamed to the wire by Reason to Soar in his last start June 6.