Transient drops and cuts back in Powder Break
Transient will be making a significant cut back in distance Saturday when she returns from a freshening for the $75,000 Powder Break at Gulfstream Park.
The race, which will be run at a mile and 70 yards on Tapeta, has drawn 10 fillies and mares. The group includes win machine Midnight Bella, stakes winner Ocean Safari, the improving Empress Ellie, and the well-bred Free Data.
Transient has been racing in a series of graded stakes, her latest over 1 1/2 miles on turf April 1 at Gulfstream. She will start from post 9 under Tyler Conner.
“Her best distance is a mile and a quarter, a mile and three-eighths,” said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. “Hopefully, this race will be within her reach. The drop in class helps more than anything. And she’s run decent enough on Tapeta. We’re hopeful for a good performance.”
Joseph said Transient was freshened following her fourth-place finish last out in the Grade 3 Orchid. The race has since become a key one, with the sixth-place finisher, Miss Yearwood, coming back in her next start to win a two-other-than allowance at Keeneland. In addition, the eighth-place finisher, Tamarindo, returned in her next start to take the Ginger Punch at Gulfstream.
Transient, prior to the Orchid had run third by a length in the Grade 3 The Very One and second by a neck in the Grade 3 La Prevoyante.
“We gave her a little break,” Joseph said. “She ran in those races during the Gulfstream championship meet. She ran consistently well, got some stakes placings in graded races. We freshened her up, have got her back going here, and will send her north for stakes.”
Transient is a daughter of Sea The Stars owned by e Five Racing.
Joseph also trains Midnight Bella, who enters off back-to-back starter allowance wins at this distance on Tapeta at Gulfstream.
“We claimed her in good form,” Joseph said. “She’s continued to win. She’s been ultra-consistent, goes in there with a very good chance. She’s won five of her last seven. She’s a hard-trying mare. She’s stepping up in class big-time, obviously, but it’s within her reach.”
Jose Morelos has the mount from post 6.
“She likes to stalk,” Joseph said of the mare with natural speed. “She runs either way.”
Empress Ellie has won both of her starts this year, and both have come at this distance on Tapeta at Gulfstream. She’s captured those races by a combined 13 lengths, and last out defeated both Ocean Safari and Free Data. Emisael Jaramillo has the mount from post 3.
Ocean Safari won the Honey Ryder on turf last season at Gulfstream. She’s run twice on Tapeta, and has a second and third over the local synthetic track.
Free Data, who must overcome post 10, also is looking for her first win on Tapeta. She is an allowance winner making her second start since March. Free Data is out of the Grade 3-winning mare Cassatt, a five-time stakes winner who earned more than $700,000.
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