Two turf stakes on tap at Gulfstream

A couple of turf stakes for 3-year-olds share the spotlight Saturday at Gulfstream Park. Both the Honey Ryder for fillies and the English Channel are worth $75,000 and will be contested at 1 1/16 miles.

Post time for the first of 12 races is 12:30 p.m. Eastern.

First up in race 10 is the wide-open Honey Ryder, which drew 13 horses for turf and Malibu Rainbow as a main-track-only.

Itsmyluckycharm, trained by Edward Plesa Jr., has crossed the finish line first in her last five races, including a neck decision over Sister Peacock in the $60,000 Mrs. Presidentress on Feb. 18. It was just the second loss for Sister Peacock, who won the $101,000 Star Shoot in her next start April 21 at Woodbine.

Itsmyluckycharm was much the best when she came back to finish first with Paco Lopez riding in a $35,000 starter race with a $35,000 claiming option April 14 at Gulfstream. However, the stewards moved her from first to 10th for bumping with Let’s Go Baby when she forced her way through at the top of the stretch.

Lopez was given a 60-day suspension for the infraction but on appeal had it reduced to 30 days.

Itsmyluckycharm has speed, but is versatile, and should get a nice trip from a forward position. She will break from post 11 with Luca Panici riding.

Trenchtown Cat is going for a hat trick, and the Rohan Crichton trainee showed she could handle a middle distance when in just her third start she won the $125,000 Sanibel Island on March 30. The lightly raced daughter of Discreet Cat took them all the way in the one-mile race on turf.

She rallied to win her second start, though, so Emisael Jaramillo will have options after she breaks from post 13.

Art G Is Back and Sea of Hope figure to have a big say in the outcome of the English Channel, which drew 10 horses for turf and Red Fog as a main-track-only. It goes as the last race.

Art G Is Back is eligible for a first-level allowance race, but he only got beat by 2 1/2 lengths in the Grade 3 Palm Beach when he tried turf for the first time March 2. He proved the strong performance was no fluke when he just missed while finishing third in the $125,000 Cutler Bay on March 30.

With three solid interim works, it appears trainer Ronald Spatz has the son of Exchange Rate primed for another big effort.

He will break from the inside post with Miguel Vasquez picking up the mount from Tyler Gaffalione.

Sea of Hope was making his first start of the year when he impressively won a maiden special weight race for trainer Christophe Clement on April 6. One of the reasons he was the 4-5 favorite in the 1 1/16-mile race on turf was his third-place finish in his debut in a key race Sept. 21 at Aqueduct. The Chad Brown-trained winner, Demarchelier, remained undefeated when he won a first-level allowance race April 12 at Keeneland on April 12. The runner-up, Seismic Wave, returned to win the Cutler Bay for trainer Bill Mott and is entered in the American Turf on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Sea of Hope will break from post 6 with Jaramillo retaining the mount.