On Monday, the 11-year-old gelding Surprsinglyperfect will make the 100th start of his career in a starter allowance at Turf Paradise. He has 28 wins to date, including seven this year, which ranks him among the winningest horses in North America in 2025. Owner-trainer Justin Evans plans to give him the chance to win a couple more before he retires the horse at year’s end. “He’s just such a cool horse and such a fan favorite and barn favorite that you want to get to that goal for him,” said Evans, who has won with three of his first four starters since the meet in Phoenix got underway. Surprsinglyperfect notched three of his 2025 wins last winter and spring at Turf Paradise before going 4 for 6 at Emerald, a record good enough to earn him top claimer honors for an unprecedented second year in a row at the Auburn, Wash., racetrack. He’s a fan favorite at both locales, which constitute their own little western circuit for hardscrabble barns. “I think there’s big things to come with Phoenix,” said Evans, who mainly races in Arizona, New Mexico, and Washington. “They could work together with Emerald and make some things really good – like with shipping incentives. They could put their heads together and make it to where it’s a great deal where Phoenix and Emerald are your two stops.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Amazingly, at 11 Surprsinglyperfect is capable of running back on extremely short rest, such as he did while winning at Monday’s one-mile distance at Emerald on June 20 and 28. The closer comes into this race off a decent second in a speed-favoring starter allowance on Oct. 12 at Albuquerque, meaning he’s had quite the freshening by his workmanlike standards. “The good thing about Surprsinglyperfect is he runs really well fresh,” Evans said. “We weren’t really planning on running him at Albuquerque and we maybe didn’t have him cranked up all the way. With being fresh, back on a track that he loves, reunited with [regular jockey Kevin] Krigger, I think we have a lot of positives going in our direction.” Surprsinglyperfect boasts a career record of 8-5-2 in 22 starts at Turf Paradise and is the 8-5 morning-line favorite versus five rivals in race 2. Breaking from an optimal spot in post 5, his primary competition should come from Fifty Cinco (4-1), whom Surprsinglyperfect beat by four lengths on June 28 at Emerald, and his Evans-trained stablemate K P Kwest (3-1). K P Kwest, 7, won his first start for Evans in a 6 1/2-furlong sprint here Nov. 15 and, at the minimum, should give Surprsinglyperfect an ideal pace to chase. Evans sincerely wants both of his horses to run well on Monday, but admitted “There’s always going to be a part of me that roots harder for the old man.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.