Unbeaten this year, Iron Hand meets new challengers

Still perfect in three synthetic starts this year, 3-year-old colt Iron Hand will take on a gauntlet of new foes in Friday’s eighth race, a $58,000 allowance at Gulfstream Park. He has not yet found an equal in the Florida ranks since switching surfaces.

“He’s doing great, going in the right direction,” trainer Jose D’Angelo said. “I think we’ll see that the key to everything is keeping him on the Tapeta, where he likes. I have the feeling that as long as he runs, he can do better.”

After winning his maiden in a 5 1/2-furlong sprint in January, his synthetic debut, D’Angelo’s colt returned to Gulfstream in April and stretched out to a route distance for the first time. His two starts going longer also have been at this age-restricted allowance level, which is quickly becoming a small pond for him. He faced a stiff challenge in the first race against winners, but in May, he improved to earn an 82 Beyer Speed Figure and faced little resistance in a 5 1/2-length victory.

Cutting back slightly from 1 1/16 miles to a mile and 70 yards is the most significant change for Iron Hand between his last race and this upcoming start. Edwin Gonzalez, his jockey throughout his career, will return to ride the likely favorite. D’Angelo wants to try him in stakes competition at some point, but he would like to keep him on synthetic, which could lead him to Woodbine this summer.

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Iron Hand’s stablemate, Expect the Best, is one of two runners in the field of seven making their synthetic debut. Those with experience on the surface seem to offer more upside.

I Know I Know, a gelding trained by Patrick Biancone, is returning from a six-month layoff after three straight stakes starts. Returning from an injury, Biancone wants to ease him back into action before returning to stakes company later this year.

“We’re going step by step,” Biancone said. “You don’t want to put them right away in a salty field. We decided to go this route.”

On New Year’s Day, Biancone’s newly turned 3-year-old finished fourth in the $150,000 Dania Beach, losing his second straight race to Mi Bago. That Mark Casse runner finished fourth in the Grade 1 American Turf last month.

I Know I Know was no match for Mi Bago in either the Dania Beach or the $100,000 Pulpit in November, but he got much closer switching from turf to synthetic. His last performance in allowance competition was in October, when he earned a 79 Beyer on the synthetic in his first race against winners. He could be the likeliest challenger to Iron Hand if he can return with a strong effort after time off.

English Law, trained by Casse alongside Mi Bago this winter, may not stack up to his stablemate but still gives the trainer a chance in this field. Since winning his maiden in December, he has bounced between Tampa Bay Downs and Gulfstream, finishing second in three straight starts. In his lone synthetic start in March, he lost by three-quarters of a length in a $73,000 allowance.

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