Turf potential on display in Kitten's Joy, Sweetest Chant

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Wide-open editions of the Kitten’s Joy and Sweetest Chant, twin turf stakes for 3-year-olds, are among the undercard attractions on a terrific 12-race Holy Bull card Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

Both are Grade 3, $100,000 races set for 1 1/16 miles on a turf course expected to be firm. Neither race has a clear-cut favorite, but there’s enough potential in both races to expect the top finishers to become major players in the divisional stakes still to be run at the Gulfstream championship meet and onward toward even richer races in Kentucky and New York.

Kitten’s Joy

Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse gets started here with Coinage, whose front-running score in the Grade 3 With Anticipation last summer on the Saratoga turf netted the Tapit colt the highest Beyer Speed Figure (85) in this lineup of eight colts.

The lone graded winner in the Kitten’s Joy field, Coinage didn’t have the smoothest of trips when defeated in his two starts subsequent to the With Anticipation, ending with a ninth-place finish in the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

:: For the first time ever, our premium past performances are free! Get free Formulator now!

“He got a little unlucky his last couple times,” said Casse, “but he’s grown up over the winter some and I’d expect him to run well.”

Coinage will have leading jockey Luis Saez aboard from post 2 when he faces three turf stakes winners – Grand Sonata, Eldon’s Prince, and Red Danger.

Grand Sonata (post 1, Tyler Gaffalione) won the Jan. 1 Dania Beach as the 13-10 favorite and will be looking to continue a torrid recent tear for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Royal Spirit (post 6, Paco Lopez), a second Pletcher runner in here, returns off a Jan. 2 maiden win.

Eldon’s Prince (post 5, Irad Ortiz Jr.) this summer won the Proud Man over the Gulfstream turf, then the off-turf Armed Forces, both of them with low Beyers.

Red Danger (post 8, Julien Leparoux) surely will attract strong tote action off a rallying last-out triumph as an odds-on favorite in the Dec. 3 Pulpit. The chestnut Orb colt has had three recent drills at Palm Meadows for trainer Brian Lynch, including a bullet half-mile in 46.40 seconds last Friday.

This is the 11th Kitten’s Joy, which is named for the turf champion of 2004. It goes as the seventh race (post, 3:01 p.m. Eastern) and leads off a 20-cent Rainbow 6 (races 7-12) expected to offer a pool guarantee of about $250,000. The Rainbow jackpot was emptied last Sunday by forceout.

Sweetest Chant

Chad Brown won a remarkable six straight runnings of the Sweetest Chant from 2012-17 until Graham Motion stopped the streak in 2018 with Thewayiam.

Both trainers are represented here with fringe players in an extremely well-matched group of 10 fillies, as Brown steps in with Miss You Ella (post 7, Irad Ortiz Jr.) and Motion with Ambitieuse (post 4, Lopez). Both fillies are last-out maiden winners over the Gulfstream Tapeta.

:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures

Motion said Ambitieuse suffered a jaw fracture that delayed the start of her career but has progressed nicely.

“We’ve always liked her,” said Motion. “She ran a nice race in breaking her maiden and she’s had a bit of time since then. We’re excited to get her going.”

In a field lacking so much as one stakes winner, only half of the 10 fillies have won on turf, those being Opalina, Roughly a Diamond, Ocean Safari, Battle Charge, and Hal’s Dream. Of those, Opalina (post 2, Saez) may take the heaviest play Saturday after finishing third as the even-money favorite in the Jan. 1 Ginger Brew last out.

“I feel a lot better about her this time,” said Roderick Rodriguez, trainer of Opalina.

Nostalgic (post 1, Junior Alvarado) might be the sleeper of the group. She makes her grass debut and is trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott. A 7 3/4-length winner of her debut in October at Belmont Park, the Godolphin homebred was an okay fourth in the Grade 2 Demoiselle in her only subsequent try.

This is the 25th Sweetest Chant, named for the standout turf filly who won 12 races for Joe Bollero from 1980-83. It directly precedes the featured Holy Bull as race 10 (4:37).