Three Rules, Cajun Delta Dawn back for more in Florida Sire Stakes

The last horse to load in the gate for the last of six stakes races Saturday at Gulfstream Park could be the most interesting participant on the entire card.

Three Rules, who, fittingly, has ruled the first three starts of his career, drew the outside post among seven horses entered in the $300,000 Affirmed division of the Florida Sire Stakes on Saturday at Gulfstream. Trained by Jose Pinchin for Shade Tree Thoroughbreds, Three Rules got a 93 Beyer Speed Figure when he romped Aug. 6 in the $200,000 Dr. Fager division of the Florida Sire series, the third-highest Beyer recorded by a 2-year-old this year in North America

And even if speed figures aren’t your thing, Three Rules sports an impressive résumé. The son of Gone Astray won his debut by three lengths, the $75,000 Birdonthewire by five, and the Dr. Fager by seven lengths. The longer the race, the wider Three Rules’s margin of victory, and in the Affirmed, he will be heavily favored to win his fourth start while stretching out from six to seven furlongs. Cornelio Velasquez, the only race rider Three Rules has known, gets the call.

The Affirmed is the 12th of 13 races carded on a program that begins at 12:35 p.m. Eastern. Ranking the septet of stakes by purse, it shares top billing with the $300,000 Susan’s Girl, a seven-furlong dirt race for Florida-sired 2-year-old fillies. The Susan’s Girl is carded as race 3 and starts the stakes action, and it too has a thrice-started unbeaten entrant in Cajun Delta Dawn.

Cajun Delta Dawn exits a win in the $200,000 Desert Vixen, another Florida Sires race, but while Three Rules has been thumping his competition, Cajun Delta Dawn has been eking out victories. She won her debut by a neck, the $75,000 Cassidy by a half-length, and the Desert Vixen by a neck. A main rival Saturday appears to be Sweet Tooth Haven, drawn on the outside in a seven-horse field, and a sharp debut winner last out for trainer Stanley Gold.

The card includes a pair of $150,000 Florida Sire stakes for 3-year-olds; the Prized, which goes as race 10, and the Jewel Princess, race 4. The one-two finishers from the $150,000 Unbridled on Aug. 6, Dream of Me and Awesome Banner, head the eight-horse Prized. Awesome Banner, making his first start in a restricted race off a good second in the Grade 3 Carry Back, was the 1-20 favorite in the Unbridled but was beaten into second by 11-1 shot Dream of Me.

Ballet Diva also went to post an odds-on favorite Aug. 6, but she too was beaten that day, finishing sixth in the $150,000 Three Ring. She’ll try to bounce back in the Jewel Princess while facing four of the five Florida-sired fillies who beat her last out.

Lochte, making his first start since January, tops the $75,000 The Vid Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile, open grass stakes. Lochte has established graded-stakes-class form in middle-distance turf races and will be heavily favored in his first start for trainer Allan Hunter Jr.

The Vid’s sister race, the $75,000 Wasted Tears, drew a deeper cast of 10, with Daring Kathy the likely favorite breaking from the rail.

Rain crops up in the forecast for the Gulfstream area throughout the end of the week, and there’s a 30 percent chance of showers Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.