Trevess most accomplished runner in Tapeta sprint
A well-matched field of nine fillies and mares will clash Friday at Gulfstream Park in the lone allowance on a nine-race twilight card.
Trevess, Fulton Market, and Choose to Be Happy figure among a core of lukewarm favorites in a 5 1/2-furlong Tapeta dash that goes as race 8. The purse would max out at $51,000, although that figure includes $7,000 in Florida-bred allowances for which only Trevess and longshot Demurely are eligible.
Trevess, trained by Laura Cazares, leads the field in starts (39), wins (9), and earnings ($223,370) while somehow still remaining eligible for the first-level condition that governs her 40th start. All prior victories for the 5-year-old Kantharos mare have come in claiming, starter, or statebred company as she has made a steady climb up the class ladder since being claimed for $12,500 last September by Cazares on behalf of Past the Wire Racing and Glenn Fagan.
Trevess would be staying true to form by finding herself in midpack through the opening furlongs after leaving from post 3 under Leonel Reyes. She used that familiar style in already winning at the current spring-summer meet, a nose triumph in a June 26 starter.
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Fulton Market (post 5, Edwin Gonzalez) is returning from an 11-week layoff, which should further enhance her superior speed. The 3-year-old Glen Hill Farm homebred has been training forwardly at Palm Meadows for Tom Proctor.
Choose to Be Happy (post 9, Kevin Krigger) has finished second in 8 of 18 starts while winning just twice, a trend she will seek to reverse when laying just off the pace. The 5-year-old gray mare is trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., who was represented by one winner every day last weekend (Aug. 19-21) at Gulfstream. Joseph starts this three-day weekend as easily the leading trainer at the meet with 55 wins, more than double his nearest rival (Rohan Crichton, 27).
First post for a nine-race Friday card is 2:55 p.m. Eastern, with the feature going at 6:50. It’s part of the Rainbow 6, which spans races 4-9 and is expected to have a guaranteed pool of $150,000. The Rainbow 6 jackpot was last emptied Aug. 13 by forceout.
Low fig in stakes win
Showgirl Lynne B earned just a 59 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the $65,000 Sharp Susan last Saturday over the Tapeta at Gulfstream.
Showgirl Lynne B, trained by Bob Hess Jr., prevailed in a field that scratched down to just four 2-year-old fillies. She was ridden by David Lopez, a former Northern California mainstay who had ridden sparingly since moving his tack to Gulfstream in March after being on a six-month break. Lopez, 32, is the son of C.C. Lopez and the grandson of Carlos Lopez, both longtime jockeys.
◗ The male counterpart to the Sharp Susan is the highlight of the coming weekend at Gulfstream. It’s the $65,000 Proud Man, to be run Saturday at 5 1/2 furlongs on Tapeta. A small field also is expected for the Proud Man, given that only 10 2-year-olds were nominated.