Texas Glitter, Melody of Colors lack standouts

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Not every 3-year-old can be on the road to the Kentucky Derby or the Kentucky Oaks. For some, there’s a different direction, one to help make a racehorse the most productive it can be.

That might partly explain the participants in the two turf sprints that will be co-featured Saturday on a 13-race card at Gulfstream Park. The Texas Glitter and Melody of Colors, both $75,000 races at five furlongs on the grass, support the lone graded stakes here this weekend, the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint.

The Texas Glitter (race 6, 2:30 p.m. Eastern), for colts and geldings, drew a field of nine, one fewer than its filly counterpart, the Melody of Colors (race 11, 5:05). Favoritism in both appears to be up for grabs, as neither race drew a standout.

Derek’s Smile, one of the Texas Glitter contenders, got the briefest of looks on the Derby trail when making the early pace three weeks ago in the Swale Stakes on the Gulfstream main track. The colt quickly beat a steady retreat and failed to finish the course, in stark contrast to his prior race, a 2 1/2-length allowance victory on the Gulfstream turf.

“You’ve got to hope his last race was a throw-out,” said Kelly Breen, who trains Derek’s Smile for longtime client George Hall. “That’s why he’s back on the grass. He has trained well since that last one.”

With Paco Lopez to ride, Derek’s Smile figures as a key pace factor in a race that, not surprisingly, is full of speed. The lineup includes a couple of restricted stakes winners: Squadron rallied to defeat Florida-breds going a mile in the Juvenile Turf at Gulfstream West in November, and Uncle B will be making his grass debut after winning the males’ division of the OBS Sprint last month.

Other notables include Santini, the winner of a maiden turf sprint in his lone appearance; Jersey Street, most recently second behind the eventual Southwest Stakes winner, One Liner; Francesco Appeal, an allowance winner on the dirt last out; and White Smoke, whose trainer, Luis Duco, has been having an excellent championship meet.

The Texas Glitter is named for the Todd Pletcher-trained turf-sprint specialist who earned $826,077 in a 37-race career that ended in 2002.

The Melody of Colors, which also lacks an open stakes winner, looks similarly contentious, with Lopez again having a live mount in Attyia, whose allowance victory last out kept her unbeaten in two career starts over turf for trainer Jason Servis. The daughter of Dialed In was narrowly best in that Dec. 21 race over Richie’s Sister, who is also entered here when favorably drawn in the outside post with jockey Tyler Gaffalione.

Other viable players include a trio of last-out maiden winners – Irish Fix, Consulting, and Morticia – as well as three more fillies with European form to further confuse the issue, those being Fields of Song, Grizzel, and Somebody To Love.

The Melody of Colors honors the Larry Foggle homebred who was first or second in 20 of 41 starts during a career that ended in 2006.