Three allowance races provide Friday action
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Not all allowance races are created equal, but they seem to be Friday at Gulfstream Park. A trio of first-level allowances with $51,000 purses will highlight a 10-race program that should meet with the approval of most horseplayers, including those in town early for the Super Bowl.
First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern. A chance of rain and a high near 80 are in the forecast.
Here’s a quick rundown of the Friday co-features:
Race 2
Several horses getting along in age for high-profile stables figure among the favorites in this 1 3/16-mile turf race, including Financial System for Chad Brown, Blockade for Shug McGaughey, and Gauguin for Bill Mott.
Financial System has been favored in six of eight career starts and has had seven works at the Palm Meadows training center since getting a short break following his most recent start, which came in an Oct. 23 off-the-turf race at Belmont Park. The 6-year-old gelding will have Javier Castellano aboard and breaks from the outside post in a field of seven.
Blockade, a 5-year-old War Front horse, will be making the third start of his form cycle after having returned in November from a 21-month layoff. Gauguin, a 7-year-old German-bred, has finished second or third a remarkable 14 times during a 20-race career in which he has won just once.
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Race 5
Witez will make her first start since finishing second at 45-1 in the Grade 2 Jessamine last fall at Keeneland. She faces seven other 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the turf.
Witez, a Mary Ann Charlston homebred, has worked four times this month, with the breezes split between the Lambholm training center in Ocala and Palm Meadows, the two Florida facilities being used this winter by her trainer, Ian Wilkes. The More Than Ready filly will be ridden by Wilkes’s son-in-law Chris Landeros, and she breaks from post 3.
Race 9
R Prerogative, a four-time winner exiting a Florida-bred stakes, returns to open company and faces five others in a six-furlong race for older fillies and mares. The 4-year-old Drill filly has remained eligible for this condition even after winning 3 of 6 starts since being turned over to trainer Georgina Baxter.
Among her top challengers are Sanaable, a last-out maiden winner for owner-breeder Shadwell Stable and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, and Angelia, regrouped by Todd Pletcher since having last raced nearly 10 months ago.
