Top turf 3-year-olds featured in stakes

A pair of $100,000 stakes that drew some of the more promising 3-year-old turf horses in south Florida this winter are part of a four-stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

The Grade 3 Dania Beach carries a bit more prestige than its filly counterpart, the ungraded Ginger Brew. Still, the Ginger Brew drew a bigger field and is slotted later in the day, a telling factor in regard to its potential attractiveness to bettors.

Both are scheduled for 7 1/2 furlongs on the turf. Here’s a rundown of each:

Dania Beach (race 4, post 1:30 p.m. Eastern): Kitten’s Cat won the Juvenile Turf Sprint to open the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup program at Santa Anita in his most recent start, but his connections considered it a mere consolation prize after the Ken and Sarah Ramsey homebred colt failed to make the cut for the BC Juvenile Turf.

“I was very, very upset not to draw into the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Joe Sharp told Gulfstream publicity this week. “We felt we were good enough to be right there. But having said that, we were glad to have had the opportunity to run in the sprint stake. I was concerned about the distance because I think he is a horse where farther will be better for him, but good horses can win at any distance, within reason.”

Kitten’s Cat, with Luis Saez to ride, could be a slight favorite from the inside post in a field of nine colts and geldings in the 12th running of the Dania Beach. Field Trip would start only if the race has to be moved to the main track.

Made You Look finished sixth in the BC Juvenile Turf behind the victorious Oscar Performance after winning the Grade 2 With Anticipation at Saratoga in his prior start. He looks like the top threat to Kitten’s Cat. A son of More Than Ready, Made You Look will break from post 7 with Javier Castellano aboard as one of two runners for Todd Pletcher.

Pletcher said he was a little disappointed with Made You Look’s Breeders’ Cup effort.

“The horse had trained really well leading up to it,” Pletcher said. “He just ran evenly. It wasn’t a horrible effort. He came out of it fine, and we’ve been pointing to this.”

Pletcher also will send out Squadron (post 5, Eddie Castro), who is untested against open company and is 2 for 2 to start his career for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners.

Among the fringe players is Minister’s Strike (post 3, Julien Leparoux), who is trained by Mark Casse and also is unbeaten in two starts.

Ginger Brew (race 9, post 4:03): With an oversubscribed field of 13 (including one for the main track only), this race is particularly difficult to gauge. Many are stretching out in distance, making their turf debut, making their stakes debut, or making their American debut. Moreover, the Dec. 10 race designed as a prep, the Wait a While, was rained off the turf.

None in the field has won a stakes over turf, and most are still eligible for a first-level allowance condition. So, considering its wide-open look, the Ginger Brew seems like an inviting spot for a last-out maiden winner named Juenesse Doree to give stakes company a try. Trained by Casse, Juenesse Doree will break from post 12.

“I think we have a good shot to win, all things considered, although I do wish we’d have gotten a better post,” said Casse. “I thought her maiden win over the Keeneland turf was pretty impressive.”

Other logical players include Party Boat and Bahama Halo, the winner and beaten favorite in the Wait a While, which graded out inordinately slow (a mere 48 Beyer Speed Figure for Party Boat).

This will be the eighth running of the Ginger Brew, named for the standout filly who earned a 2008 Sovereign Award for Gulfstream chairman Frank Stronach.