Two solid first-level allowances on Thursday card
Two first-level allowance races, race 4 around two turns on turf and race 7 around one turn on dirt, are the highlights of an eight-race Thursday program at Gulfstream Park.
There are a couple of interesting 4-year-old fillies in race 7, carded for 6 1/2 furlongs on the main track, though neither will offer much of a price in this eight-horse field. Diamond Earring looks like the favorite for Reeves Thoroughbreds, trainer Kathy Ritvo, and jockey Matthew Rispoli, but Cult Classic might prove superior at slightly better odds.
Both fillies raced last summer at Saratoga, but while Diamond Earring has had a busy enough winter and spring, Cult Classic starts for the first time since a duel-and-fade seventh in a first-level Saratoga allowance race last August. Trained by Ralph Nicks for a Team Valor International partnership, and to be ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, Cult Classic has started only three times but won her debut and finished second in her second start, both in south Florida. She’s been working steadily (and, on April 30, fast) at Gulfstream and can turn her decent speed into a good outside pressing trip after breaking from post 8.
Diamond Earring won her debut about 54 weeks ago but has since raced six times at the first allowance level, running decently several times without ever breaking through. Ritvo will try her in blinkers for the first time Thursday, and that could make some difference.
Race 4, the turf-route allowance, could come down to horses trained by Mark Casse and Todd Pletcher, with an edge to the Pletcher starter, Dulce Arabe. A Chilean-bred, the mare started twice in Chile before making her U.S. debut last month following an 18-month layoff. She finished a decent third and looks likely to improve Thursday. Conquest Artura, the Casse-trained filly, has faced stronger foes than these throughout her career and could well be ready for a winning try in her first start since Jan. 30.
Five of the eight races on the Thursday cared are scheduled for turf, but that’s nothing new lately on Gulfstream cards. The track has been leaning very heavily on the turf course since the spring meet, which ends June 30, began on April 6. Through Sunday, there had been 227 races run at the meet, and 128 of them were run on turf. Favorites have been faring especially well in grass races, winning at a 41 percent clip through May 8.
◗ Edgard Zayas, Gaffalione, and Emisael Jaramillo continue to run neck and neck in the jockey standings. Through Sunday, Zayas had 27 winners, three more than Gaffalione and four more than Jaramillo. Jaramillo, however, is the percentage leader at the meet, his 23 winners having come from just 83 mounts (compared to 110 for Zayas), good for an excellent 26 percent strike rate.