Trust Me, This Run's for You respective favorites in Desert Vixen, Dr. Fager

Still going strong at age 40, the Florida Sire Stakes series will kick off another vibrant renewal Saturday at Gulfstream Park in South Florida with competitive fields in both the $100,000 Desert Vixen and $100,000 Dr. Fager.

First run in 1982 at the old Calder as the Florida Stallion Stakes, the series of races restricted to 2-year-olds sired by Florida-accredited stallions has proven a showcase for up-and-coming horses during its four decades of existence – and as often happens, the six-furlong twins that open the 2022 series Saturday are filled with young horses of potential.

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First post for an 11-race card is 12:25 p.m. Eastern, with the Desert Vixen (race 8) for fillies going at 4:12 and the Dr. Fager (race 10) for either sex at 5:24. Both are part of a 20-cent Rainbow 6 (races 6-11) expected to offer a pool guarantee of at least $400,000.

The Dr. Fager and Desert Vixen lead into longer and richer events in the FSS series. Those races are the $200,000 Affirmed and $200,000 Susan’s Girl, both at seven furlongs on Sept. 3, and the $400,000 In Reality and $400,000 My Dear Girl, both at 1 1/16 miles on Oct. 1.

Desert Vixen Stakes

The filly Trust Me got something of a first-out mulligan before wheeling back for an impressive maiden score on June 17, and now she’s one of the favorites when she faces eight others in the Desert Vixen. Sonny Leon, the winning jockey 13 Saturdays ago in the Kentucky Derby, will be aboard Trust Me from post 7.

“I didn’t have her as fit as I’d have liked” when she was second in her May 19 debut, trainer David Fawkes said of Trust Me, a bay daughter of The Big Beast. “Honestly, I didn’t think she’d get beat the first time.”

Four local works have followed her breakthrough triumph, which earned a field-high 69 Beyer Speed Figure, in validating Fawkes’s original opinion. Her latest morning drill came with Leon aboard.

“Sonny really, really liked her,” said Fawkes, who guided Big Drama, an eventual Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner, to a sweep of all three open-division races in the 2008 FSS series.

The chief opposition for Trust Me, a lukewarm morning-line favorite at 5-2, includes Lynx (3-1) and Go Lil Lady (4-1), both of them also last-out maiden winners at Gulfstream.

Lynx (post 3, Edgard Zayas) won the May 19 race in which Trust Me was second and has gone unraced by trainer Carlos David in the interim. The daughter of Brethren was bred by her owner, Arindel, one of the leading breeders and owners in the FSS series.

Go Lil Lady (post 5, Miguel Vasquez) romped in a June 9 debut for Michael Yates, who can claim three FSS series wins since 2018.

Others meriting attention include Girl Bye, privately purchased following a third in the Astoria at Belmont Park in her last start, and a pair of easy winners in maiden-claiming company, Miss Aria and Gemma’s Curls.

Dr. Fager Stakes

It takes some doing for a horse to go from 13-1 in his debut to the program favorite for his next start, but that’s what has happened with a Stonehedge homebred named This Run’s for You in the Dr. Fager. He wheels back just two Saturdays after earning a 75 Beyer – the top figure in either stakes – with an 11-length first-out jaunt at a $28.60 mutuel.

Running back so quickly is “unfortunate timing,” said trainer Kathleen O’Connell, “but he came out of the race good and he’s doing good.”

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She said the son of Khozan “comes from a very good family and the owners are very patient as far as letting them develop.”

“I was very happy with the way everything came together,” O’Connell said.

Edgar Perez, one of the track’s hottest jockeys in recent weeks, has the call on This Run’s for You, who breaks from the outside post as the 2-1 choice in a field of 10 colts and geldings. The top challengers appear to be Turbo (post 4, Zayas, 3-1) and Awesome Strong (post 7, Vasquez, 5-1), each similarly sharp in winning his only start by open lengths.

Among the fringe contenders are Knox and Cajun Hope, both last-out winners.

Rainbow 6 forceout Sunday

Gulfstream is hosting a forceout of the Rainbow 6 pool Sunday. Assuming the Rainbow 6 jackpot isn’t swept by a solo winning ticket Friday or Saturday, several million dollars in new handle can be expected with the forceout, given the week began with a carryover of $222,085.

The Rainbow 6 pool was last emptied July 8.