Turf sprint start of familiar path for Pure Sensation

The 7-year-old Disco Partner could only finish ninth while making his 2019 debut in the Shakertown Stakes on April 6 at Keeneland. That deep Grade 2 was a really tough spot to make a comeback, but the race for his stablemate Pure Sensation’s seasonal unveiling – the featured ninth Friday at Gulfstream Park – is no picnic either.

Disco Partner and the 8-year-old Pure Sensation aren’t related by blood, only close association. Both were bred and are owned by Patricia Generazio and trained by Christophe Clement. Both horses are gray, and both have been excellent turf sprinters, frequently appearing in the same race.

Clement is following the same track he plotted for Pure Sensation early in his 2018 campaign: the gelding made his seasonal bow April 12 in a Gulfstream turf-sprint allowance race. He finished second by a half-length and went on to have yet another productive season, topped by a win in the Turf Monster at Parx Racing, and Clement surely has his horse in just-get-him-going mode for Friday’s race, carded at five furlongs on grass with three allowance conditions and a $62,500 claiming option.

As many as five other horses (listed from inside draw to out) look capable of winning: Singandcryindubai, Mr French, Fig Jelly, Kroy, and McErin.

Singandcryindubai makes his third start and only his second on turf since coming to Florida and to trainer Jorge Navarro. Last out, in the $75,000 Silks Run, another five-furlong Gulfstream turf race, Singandcryindubai finished fourth in a race won by Imprimis, who hardly could’ve been more impressive in capturing the Shakertown. Second and third in the Silks Run were Vision Perfect and Pay and Price, also very capable grass sprinters.

A different Navarro, Marcial, trains Mr French, who goes way up in class from a first-level allowance with a $25,000 claiming option but enters on a five-race win streak, a string rung up in Gulfstream grass sprints. The 5-year-old England-bred Mr French was claimed four starts ago, and at this point has a ceiling of indeterminate height.

Kroy is an unknown quantity in short turf sprints, but is a four-time Gulfstream turf winner who drops out of graded stakes competition.

Fig Jelly and McErin both occupy stalls in the Jason Servis shed row – not a bad place to live if you want to win races. Servis has a 35 percent strike rate from his last 190 turf-sprint starters, and while World of Trouble is the stable star in the division, Fig Jelly and McErin aren’t chopped liver. Fig Jelly at his best finished second to World of Trouble in a stakes last summer at Saratoga and much more recently was second at this class level and distance over the Gulfstream course.

McErin, though, is the pick to win this race. Judiciously managed by Servis, McErin last was seen winning a first-level turf-sprint allowance Jan. 30 at Gulfstream Park – though “winning” might be too soft a word. McErin went to the front, set a strong pace, and was home by more than five lengths, the 101 Beyer Speed Figure he earned higher than anything the likes of Pure Sensation has put up since July 2017. Servis, as is his style, has waited patiently for McErin to fully recover from that effort, and his horse is well drawn on the outside Friday. And with a bevy of plausible contenders entered, McErin, who was odds-on last out, might actually be a fair price.