Surface switch would boost Helping Lisa D, Always Shopping in Treasure Coast

Sunday’s $60,000 Treasure Coast Stakes at Gulfstream is carded at 1 1/8 miles on the turf. But with the turf course soaked by heavy rain earlier in the week and with more in the forecast over the weekend, it came as no surprise that the race came up stronger for dirt than grass.

The Treasure Coast lured a full field of one dozen fillies and mares, including three main-track-only entrants, Remarkable Soul, Letruska, and Bella Ciao. Their connections are not the only ones looking for a surface change Sunday, with Always Shopping and the in-form Helping Lisa D also among the major players if the race ends up on dirt

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Helping Lisa D, in fact, could wind up the favorite if the Treasure Coast switches surfaces. She exits a 13-length victory three weeks earlier in a race moved from the turf to a sloppy main track. The performance earned her a 91 Beyer Speed Figure and was a big step forward over a 1 1/4-length triumph against similar optional-claiming foes going a mile during the Championship meet.

Trainer Todd Pletcher entered Always Shopping despite the fact the Awesome Again filly has never started on grass. She is, however, a graded stakes winner on dirt, having captured the Grade 2 Gazelle at Aqueduct during spring 2019. She has started just twice since, most recently finishing third after setting a hotly contested pace as the even-money favorite under optional-claiming conditions over a sloppy track April 18 at Gulfstream.

Remarkable Soul also is coming off a one-sided main-track win, drawing off to a 12 3/4-length triumph going a mile here just two weeks earlier. She received far and away a career-best 88 Beyer.

If the Treasure Coast stays on the grass, trainer Christophe Clement could hold the upper hand with the uncoupled pair of Traipsing and Olympic Games. Traipsing returned from a two-year hiatus to rally from last and win an entry-level allowance by a half-length here March 28. Olympic Games would be making her U.S. debut if she starts Sunday. She opened her career with three consecutive wins in France, but has been idle since a third-place finish last November in Italy.