Trio of graded stakes winners seek end to long win droughts

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Three graded stakes winners, none of whom have won a race of any kind in more than 17 months, will try to get back on the winning track in a pair of intriguing $53,000 allowance events that highlight a strong nine-race program Friday at Gulfstream Park.

Trophy Chaser, winless since capturing the Grade 3 Challenger at Tampa Bay Downs in March 2020, will take on six rivals while returning to a synthetic surface for just the second time in his career in Friday’s sixth event, to be decided at about a mile and 70 yards over the Tapeta course. An hour later, two-time graded stakes winner Tonalist’s Shape and Grade 3 winner Cookie Dough square off against five other older fillies and mares going one mile on the main track.

Trophy Chaser has started just twice since rallying to victory more than a year and a half ago in the Challenger, earning a second straight triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure for the effort. He would start just once more before going to the sidelines for 16 months, finishing last of 13 in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in May 2020.

Trophy Chaser returned on Sept. 3, finishing third in a six-furlong allowance on the Gulfstream main track. His lone start over a synthetic surface came in his 3-year-old finale, finishing fourth after contesting the pace to midstretch in the restricted OBS Sprint at the Ocala Training Center.

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Trophy Chaser’s competition will include Fighting Force and Light Fury, a pair of last-out winners over the newly installed Tapeta track.

Fighting Force will face older horses for the first time Friday after rallying from last to a popular half-length decision against 3-year-old entry-level allowance opposition earlier this month. Light Fury also ran to his backing in his debut on an all-weather surface, registering a half-length decision over a strong field of $25,000 starter-allowance competition.

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has entered a pair of key contenders, Freedom Matters and Calibrator, in the co-feature. Freedom Matters steps well up in company after being claimed for $25,000 out of a second-place finish on the turf. Calibrator was overmatched and proved no factor against a very good field of high-level allowance foes in his lone start this summer at Saratoga after having won two of his previous three outings over the Gulfstream turf course earlier in the season.

Joseph also trains Tonalist’s Shape, heroine of both the Grade 2 Davona Dale and Grade 3 Forward Gal during the winter of 2020 but winless in six tries since dominating the Hollywood Wildcat later that spring. Tonalist’s Shape, who returns to the main track after a very poor turf debut late this summer at Kentucky Downs, will be equipped with blinkers for just the second time in her career on Friday.

Cookie Dough has been sidelined since finishing fifth in the seven-furlong Sheer Drama in September 2020 and seeks her first victory since capturing the Grade 3 Royal Delta over a wet track here in February 2020. Cookie Dough, who also has been graded stakes-placed on five occasions, has trained forwardly for her return, including a six-furlong drill in 1:12 on Oct. 6.

Those inclined to let Tonalist’s Shape and Cookie Dough prove they can revert to their past form rather than backing the pair at short prices may find suitable alternatives in Crumb Bun and Thissmytime. Crumb Bun changed hands after being claimed for $35,000 by trainer Jorge Delgado out of her most recent start and is another who has failed to find the winner’s circle for quite some time, having gone 10 starts without a victory since capturing a similarly conditioned allowance race as Friday’s headliner in July 2020.

Thissmytime, second in the Grade 2 Inside Information in her 2021 debut, figures to be part of a fairly lively pace scenario that should also include Cookie Dough and last-out allowance winner Simplify.