Tapeta ace Lamplighter Jack begins his season on turf
Though most of his success in 2022 came on Tapeta, Lamplighter Jack will make his seasonal debut on turf Thursday in one of two starter allowance/optional claimers that are the co-features on Gulfstream Park’s nine-race program.
A 5-year-old gelding by Fed Biz trained by Joe Orseno, Lamplighter Jack went 5 for 10 in 2022, with all five wins coming over Gulfstream’s Tapeta surface. Two of those wins were in races originally scheduled for the turf.
“He really took to the Tapeta, but he runs on the turf, too,” Orseno said.
Lamplighter Jack’s two wins on turf came at Delaware Park and Hawthorne. He did finish second in a $50,000 claimer on turf at Gulfstream last February after a last-place finish in the Tropical Park Derby.
“He wasn’t half the horse then that he is now,” Orseno said.
Orseno said he gave Lamplighter Jack three weeks off following his second-place finish to Parkland in this same condition over Tapeta on Dec. 14.
“Off his last race, we decided he hadn’t had a break, so I sent him to Ocala for 21 days just to let him eat some grass and get some rest,” said Orseno, who is seeking to snap an 0-for-19 streak at the meet. “We brought him back in, he worked fantastic a few times. This race was probably the right condition for him.”
Edgar Perez rides Lamplighter Jack from post 7 in this one-mile event, which goes as the last of nine races on the card.
Parkland will face Lamplighter Jack again on Thursday. He hasn’t raced since Dec. 14, the day he beat Lamplighter Jack by one length. That was Parkland’s first start off the Saffie Joseph Jr. claim in October. Last June, Lamplighter Jack defeated Parkland by 2 3/4 lengths in a spot similar to this over Gulfstream’s Tapeta surface.
The potential for a strong early pace in this field would seem to play in Parkland’s favor. Tyler Gaffalione rides Parkland from the rail. Irad Ortiz Jr. rode him last time, but Ortiz is serving a suspension this week.
This 11-horse field also includes Major Wager and Our Country, who were a neck apart when one-two in this same condition going 7 1/2 furlongs on turf Jan. 12.
Completing the field are J P Hellish, Swashbuckle, Laker Mamba, Dazzling Truths, Charles Chrome, Extrasexybigdadee, and Uno Tiger.
In race 8, a 1 1/16-mile starter allowance/optional $25,00 claimer for 3-year-olds on Tapeta, Gaffalione teams up with Ralph Nicks on Nova Folha, who returns to Tapeta for the first time since his maiden victory for $35,000 claiming here last September.
Unified Weekend, Hard Mission, and McMoney also are contenders in this seven-horse field.
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