Sterling Silver has recency edge in Hurricane Bertie
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sterling Silver, who proved no match for the speedy R Disaster early last fall at Aqueduct in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom, will look to avenge that setback when the pair top a field of nine older fillies and mares in Saturday’s $175,000 Hurricane Bertie at Gulfstream Park. The Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie highlights a 12-race program that also features the $125,000 Silks Run going five furlongs on turf.
Sterling Silver finished third, 3 1/2 lengths behind R Disaster, in the Gallant Bloom, which, like the Hurricane Bertie, was contested at 6 1/2 furlongs. Sterling Silver subsequently has had two solid races, both locally, having won the one-mile Rampart on Dec. 26 before opening her 7-year-old campaign finishing second behind Grand Job in the Grade 2 Inside Information a month later.
R Disaster, on the other hand, has not started since finishing second, beaten a head in a game effort, in the six-furlong Dream Supreme on Nov. 8 at Churchill Downs. It is Sterling Silver’s recency edge that gives Anthony Margotta, who took over training the mare following her arrival in Florida late last fall, the confidence his mare might have the edge over R Disaster in the rematch.
“R Disaster is obviously going to be tough to beat, but she’s been away four months now, for whatever reason, and hopefully that layoff will prove the chink in her armor that will help us turn the tables on her Saturday,” Margotta said. “My horse has been training great and obviously love the track, although, to be honest, I wish this race was a little longer because I think the farther the better with her.”
With her regular rider, Javier Castellano, at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday, Rajiv Maragh will handle Sterling Silver in the Hurricane Bertie.
R Disaster finished second, beaten a neck by Nic’s Style, after prompting all the pace in the 2025 Hurricane Bertie. She has worked four times in preparation for her return, with nearly a month between the first and second of those breezes. She is one of five fillies trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has entered in the race along with Taliesin, Luvumorgan, Indy Bay, and Andrea.
Of the others, Indy Bay is the most accomplished, having won the Grade 2 Charles Town Oaks in 2025. She has made just two subsequent starts, easing to the wire after losing her action in the Grade 1 Cotillion before bogging down on a deep rail when tiring badly making her 2026 debut in the Inside Information.
Joseph said he plans to run at least four of the five, with Taliesin likely to come out if the Captiva Island Stakes fills here next Saturday.
The remainder of the field includes Lynn’s Milky Way, who brings a two-race winning streak into the race; Beyond Belief, whose two-race win skein was snapped following a rough trip in the Inside Information; and Roswell, idle since an allowance win last fall at Aqueduct.
Silks Run
Despite earning the highest Beyer Speed Figure of his career, a 98, Rezasrolex had his nine-race winning streak come to an end when beaten a neck by the rail-skimming My Boy Prince last month in the Turf Dash at Tampa Bay Downs. On Saturday, Rezasrolex will likely be favored to begin a new streak when he takes on six others, including stablemate Eamonn, in the Silks Run.
Rezasrolex went undefeated for 20 months, dominating the starter-allowance ranks over the synthetic Tapeta course for the majority of that time. Trainer Joe Orseno then switched his versatile star to grass to continue his winning ways against allowance competition, extending the streak to nine straight heading into the Turf Dash.
“He took the worst of it at Tampa,” Orseno said. “He angled around the horse on the lead and the winner just got to sit on the rail and beat us a neck. That was a tough one. He’s been amazing, and it looks like he’s going to be even stronger as a 5-year-old since we ran him sparingly, only starting him five times last season.”
Rezasrolex will break from the rail under regular jockey Edgard Zayas.
The pace should be an honest one with Souper Quest and Coppola in the lineup. That would favor the late-running Litigation, who rallied from near the rear of the field down the center of the course to a neck victory in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint here earlier this winter for trainer Brian Lynch.
Coppola also ran in the Turf Dash at Tampa, finishing a tiring ninth after failing to show his best speed following a bit of an eventful start. Coppola won both the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint and Janus stakes here last winter but has fallen off his top form since earning a career-best 101 Beyer winning the William Garrett Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis for a second straight year early last summer.
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