Stakes doubleheader on Tapeta matches 3-year-olds at two turns
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Gulfstream Park will put the spotlight on 3-year-olds who race over a route of ground Saturday in both the $75,000 Not Surprising and $75,000 Martha Washington.
The races will be held over 1 1/16 miles on the Tapeta track. They highlight a 12-race card that starts at 12:50 p.m. Eastern.
The Martha Washington, for fillies, is up first as the fourth race. The field of eight drew four runners coming off wins, led by Honor D Lady.
She won the $75,000 Honey Ryder in her 3-year-old debut May 6 at Gulfstream. Honor D Lady stalked the pace en route to a 1 1/4-length win in the mile turf race while making her first start since November.
“She was coming off a layoff,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “I didn’t think I had her quite fit, but obviously she was fit enough to get the job done.”
Honor D Lady’s starts prior to the Honey Ryder had come on synthetic tracks. She won a maiden special weight over 1 1/16 miles in October at Gulfstream, then traveled to Woodbine and finished third in the Grade 3 Mazarine in November.
“The last time was the first time on turf, and she obviously handled it well,” Joseph said. “Her half-brother, Churchtown, is quite a good turf horse. She ran good on the turf. I think she’s just as good on the Tapeta. There’s not much difference.”
Churchtown is a stakes winner on the grass at Aqueduct and also a two-time winner on synthetic surfaces. The horses are out of the Blame mare Complicated.
Honor D Lady, a daughter of Honor Code, races for Final Furlong Farm and Madaket Stable. She will break from post 4 under Edgard Zayas.
Joseph said a good effort from Honor D Lady would likely send her back to graded stakes competition at Woodbine. He said the goal would be the Grade 3, $150,000 Selene at 1 1/16 miles on July 1.
The other Martha Washington entrants coming off wins include Starship Aurora, who is seeking her third straight victory. She’s won back-to-back routes over the synthetic track at Gulfstream and will break from post 8.
Alternate Rock won a first-level allowance on turf on April 20 at Gulfstream and is a past winner over the local synthetic track. She will start from post 7.
Typey was a maiden special weight winner May 27 at Gulfstream. She overcame post 10 to win a 1 1/16-mile race moved from turf to Tapeta. She will break from post 6 on Saturday.
The chief threat could be Ocean Club, who is returning to the 1 1/16-mile distance of her maiden win April 16. She exits a runner-up finish in the Honey Ryder. Ocean Club’s maiden win came in an off-the-turf race at Gulfstream that was moved to the Tapeta. She won off by more than five lengths for Glen Hill Farm and trainer Tom Proctor.
In the Not Surprising, the promising Ticking and Calycanthus will make their first starts on a synthetic track for barns that excel with turf-to-synthetic runners. Ticking and Calycanthus are part of an eight-horse field. Most of the entrants are proven on the Tapeta at Gulfstream.
Ticking was a $675,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. auction of 2-year-olds in training last April. He is a son of Bolt d’Oro and a half-brother to Harpers First Ride, a past winner of the Grade 3 Pimlico Special who overall is 12 for 23 with earnings of nearly $700,000.
Ticking has won 2 of 4 starts, with both of his wins coming over seven furlongs on the main track at Gulfstream. He showed speed in both victories, but raced nowhere near the front last out when he made his stakes debut in the $100,000 English Channel on May 6 at Gulfstream.
Ticking had a troubled trip in the one-mile race that served as his first start on turf, and finished eighth. He’s since come back to work on Tapeta in preparation for the Not Surprising.
Zayas has the mount from post 4 for trainer Eddie Plesa Jr., who wins at a 27 percent clip with turf-to-synthetic starters, according to Daily Racing Form statistics.
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Ticking is owned by Leon Ellman, Glassman Racing, and Laurie Plesa.
Calycanthus, a son of English Channel, has raced exclusively on turf. He won his maiden at 1 1/16 miles on the grass at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet last October and in more recent times was fourth in a first-level allowance at the same distance April 8 at Gulfstream.
Leonel Reyes has the mount from the rail for trainer Todd Pletcher, who wins at a 23 percent rate with his turf-to-synthetic starters.
Calycanthus is a Calumet Farm homebred from the mare Wardelle, a stakes winner who overall won 16 races for earnings of more than $435,000.
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