Twin turf stakes spice up Holy Bull undercard
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Nowhere on the continent is grass racing more competitive this time of year than at Gulfstream Park, and a pair of Grade 3 races Saturday are ample evidence.
Three-year-olds on the definite rise will convene in the Kitten’s Joy and Sweetest Chant, twin turf stakes that serve to bolster the Holy Bull undercard. Both 1 1/16-mile races offer $175,000 purses and horses in peak form – in fact, every one of the nine fillies in the Sweetest Chant finished either first or second in their respective last starts.
Both are carded on the back end of a 12-race program that starts at 11:50 a.m. Eastern, with the Kitten’s Joy leading off the 50-cent late pick four as race 9 (3:46) and the Sweetest Chant directly preceding the Holy Bull as race 11 (5:01).
Kitten’s Joy
The chestnut colt named Candidate had an innocent bit of larceny on his mind the last time Arnaud Delacour shipped him over here from his winter base at Tampa Bay Downs, and things worked out perfectly when the Exaggerator colt and jockey Tyler Gaffalione led every step of the Jan. 7 Dania Beach as a 7-1 upsetter.
A similar strategy surely has been plotted for when Candidate breaks from post 1 with Gaffalione aboard in the Kitten’s Joy, and it’s questionable whether any of his seven opponents can do anything about it. There seems to be little other speed signed on, and if Gaffalione can get away with stealing off again, why wouldn’t he?
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“He might be a horse that gets stronger with time,” said Delacour. “I think he’s so efficient on the turf right now that I wouldn’t change anything. We definitely like him.”
Many bettors will be giving another chance to Major Dude (post 4, Irad Ortiz Jr.) to turn the tables after the Spendthrift Farm colt was second as the even-money favorite in the Dania Beach. Trainer Todd Pletcher hopes this one unfolds differently.
“Last time he got a little too far back behind a slow pace and got bottled up a little too long,” said Pletcher. “Once he got clear, he was closing.”
Other possibilities include Souzak (post 2, Joel Rosario), looking to improve over his first stateside start in the Dania Beach, and Lights of Broadway (post 5, Jose Morelos), runner-up over the local course in the Dec. 10 Pulpit.
This is the 10th running of the Kitten’s Joy, which is named for the 2004 grass champion trained by Dale Romans for Ken and Sarah Ramsey. The March 4 Palm Beach is the next local stakes in this niche.
Sweetest Chant
Slotting this race right before the Holy Bull was a dead giveaway that a terrific renewal should be in store. Sweetlou’sgotaces (post 1, Rosario) probably will be favored as a last-out winner of the ungraded Tepin over the Aqueduct turf in late November – but clearly the opposition is ready to take her on, as mentioned earlier with their collectively strong recent records.
Sweetlou’sgotaces owns the two highest Beyers in the field, having followed a just-miss maiden-sprint defeat (85 Beyer) with an 84 in dominating the Tepin when stretching out to a mile. This distance will be her farthest yet.
Sweetlou’sgotaces is part of a satellite string Ray Handal has dispatched to Florida for the winter from his New York base. The dark bay Constitution filly will be looking to give her trainer a first-ever Gulfstream victory that would break a 0-for-43 streak extending from the 2016-17 Championship meet through Wednesday.
If Sweetlou’sgotaces can’t replicate his Beyers, the winner could come from most anywhere. Malleymoo (post 3, Julien Leparoux) nearly overcame a poor start when flying late to be second in the Dec. 10 Wait a While at Gulfstream. The English Channel filly was making just her second career start after winning on debut in Ireland in October.
“Sometimes you see those European horses run well first time off the plane and have a bit of a bounce the second time,” said her trainer, Jack Sisterson, “but we’ve given her time to get over that and she’s doing really well.”
Adding to the mix are the Pletcher pair of Cairo Consort (post 7, Irad Ortiz Jr.) and Alpha Bella (post 5, Luis Saez), and the unbeaten Brad Cox shipper Heavenly Sunday (post 8, Gaffalione), whose Beyers in two starts were 64 and 72.
This is the 25th Sweetest Chant, named for the standout turf filly trained by Joe Bollero for Russell Reineman in the early 1980s. The March 4 Herecomesthebride is the next local stakes in this division.
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