Tropical Park Derby, Oaks give 3-year-old turf runners one last payday
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Once upon a time, the Tropical Park Derby was the first derby of the year in North America, traditionally run on New Year’s Day at Calder Race Course with an illustrious roster of winners that includes Barbaro and Kitten’s Joy.
Now, the $100,000 Tropical Park Derby has become the final derby of the year, having moved to Gulfstream Park in 2014 and contested annually in late December at 1 1/16 miles on turf. On Sunday it is the co-feature on a 10-race program that also includes its filly counterpart, the $100,000 Tropical Park Oaks.
The final opportunity to run 3-year-olds against their own age group in 2021 made the Tropical Park Derby a popular item at entry time. The race attracted a full field of 12 plus three also-eligibles, and the likely favorite is Never Surprised, who faces a plethora of classy challengers including Safe Conduct, Yes This Time, Scarlett Sky, King of Dreams, Mohs, and Grey Streak.
Never Surprised, who has never finished worse than second in six career starts, launched his 3-year-old campaign here in late January, finishing second in the Grade 3 Kitten’s Joy. Never Surprised was sidelined for more than seven months subsequent to that outing and has made steady progress since returning. He finished second behind Public Sector in both the Grade 3 Saranac and Grade 2 Hill Prince before breaking through with his best effort yet, a 6 1/4-length triumph last month at Aqueduct in the Gio Ponti Stakes.
Safe Conduct chased Never Surprised from start to finish before holding on to be second in the Gio Ponti, just his second start since proving a game winner of the Queen’s Plate on Aug. 22 at Woodbine. The Gio Ponti, decided over good turf, was a major improvement over his previous effort, an eighth-place finish in the 1 1/2-mile Breeders’ Stakes run over a yielding course at Woodbine.
“We still don’t know really how good he is on firm ground,” trainer Phil Serpe said upon Safe Conduct’s arrival locally earlier this month. “That’s something we still need to find out when he gets his last chance with 3-year-olds in the Tropical Park Derby.”
Yes This Time and Scarlett Sky are the only graded stakes winners in the field. Yes This Time won the Grade 3 Kent in July at Delaware Park, and Scarlett Sky won the Grade 3 Transylvania at Keeneland in early April.
Yes This Time is winless in three tries since winning the Kent, including an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby in August. Scarlett Sky finished ninth and seventh in his two starts since rallying from last to capture the Transylvania for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.
Mohs and Grey Streak finished first and second in the Oct. 23 Hawthorne Derby, with Mohs prevailing by three-quarters of a length.
King of Dreams brings a two-race win streak into the Tropical Park Derby, with both of those victories coming over the Tapeta course including a three-length triumph in the Showing Up Stakes for which he earned a career-best 90 Beyer Speed Figure. He also is a two-time winner over the local turf course and was second, beaten less than a length by Yes This Time, in the English Channel Stakes here during the spring.
Tropical Park Oaks
Nine will contest the Tropical Park Oaks, led by the undefeated Grade 1 winner Lady Speightspeare and the Mark Casse-trained pair of Inthewinnerscircle and Mademoiselle Nova.
Lady Speightspeare, perfect in four starts, closed out a two-race 2-year-old campaign with a victory in the Grade 1 Natalma at Woodbine, then was idle nearly a year before finally returning in September to win an allowance on the turf at Woodbine. She won the Grade 2 Bessarabian over the synthetic track at Woodbine by four lengths on Nov. 13. Lady Speightspeare is trained by Roger Attfield and will have regular rider Emma Jane Wilson aboard once again in her U.S. debut.
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Inthewinnerscircle and Mademoiselle Nova have running styles that complement one another perfectly. Inthewinnerscircle rallied from the rear of the pack to run down the pace-prompting Mademoiselle Nova and win the Cellars Shiraz on the synthetic track here by a neck Nov. 5.
Tobys Heart and Breaker of Chains, fourth and sixth in the Grade 3 Valley View at Keeneland over a yielding course on Oct. 29, also loom major contenders, especially if they are able to get back over firm ground on Sunday.