Turf allowance features nominees from canceled Christmas Past Stakes

Timing is everything, apparently, at least when it comes to making entries.

On Wednesday, when the Gulfstream Park racing office took entries for the $75,000 Christmas Past Stakes scheduled for Saturday, only six 3-year-old turf fillies were in the entry box. That number was deemed insufficient, and the stakes was canceled.

But when entries for Sunday were taken Thursday, a $44,000 turf allowance at the same distance of 1 1/16 miles somehow drew a field of 11 – all but one of them having been among the 28 nominees to the Christmas Past.

Racing office personnel at the south Florida track were at a loss Friday to explain how that situation came about, but the bottom line is that the allowance with no restrictions and just a little more than half the purse of the Christmas Past will be anchoring the Sunday card as the 10th of 11 races. Live streaming of the entire program, which starts at 1:15 p.m. Eastern, is available on drf.com.

The connections of the fillies who could have run for black type and a considerably higher purse undoubtedly aren’t happy about it, but the Sunday feature nonetheless is the type of race that bettors enjoy. It’s wide-open, with no clear-cut favorite and a wide variety of angles from which to attack.

Post time for the feature is 6:03. A solid card also includes three straight maiden special weight events (races 6-8) and a starter optional claimer (race 4).

KEY CONTENDERS

Dun Won (Last 3 Beyers: 84-73-65)

◗ It wasn’t until her 11th start that this former $12,500 maiden claimer finally won for the first time, but she seems to have found a home on the Gulfstream turf. Her July 31 romp in a first-level allowance race earned her a field-high 84 Beyer Speed Figure. It can’t hurt that she drew the rail and that there’s plenty of opposing speed to facilitate her kick.

Arissa (Last 3 Beyers: 65-64-75)

◗ She made an eye-catching midrace run in the same July 31 allowance won by Dun Won when rallying from 10th to the lead, only to flatten out down the lane. A better-timed move obviously would yield a better result, and a couple of her prior Gulfstream turf efforts were good.

Russian Night (Last 3 Beyers: 70-73-70)

◗ She’s another filly who suddenly started faring much better when moved to the Gulfstream turf, as evidenced by those three straight heady tries in the maiden ranks in May and June.

◗ She does return on just six days’ rest after being a decent fourth as the favorite in an entry-level turf allowance, but note trainer Gennadi Dorochenko’s return on investment ($1.86) when using that wheel-back move.

Seneca Destiny (Last 3 Beyers: 78-65-62)

◗ Purchased privately by New York businessman Buck Butler late last month, this filly was one of those in the entry box for the Christmas Past when the race died.

◗ Trainer Mike Maker shows well-above-average numbers in the relevant categories, and it would be no big surprise if this Texas-bred immediately made her presence felt in the local division.