Versatile Steal Sunshine heading to Monmouth for Iselin
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Steal Sunshine is scheduled to work over the weekend at Gulfstream Park for an intended start in the Grade 3, $250,000 Philip H. Iselin at Monmouth Park, trainer Bobby Dibona said Wednesday.
The Iselin is a 1 1/16-mile race on Aug. 19.
Steal Sunshine has won stakes races at distances of seven furlongs to a mile. He is coming off a runner-up finish in the $60,000 Bill Kaplan Memorial, a 1 1/16-mile overnight handicap July 2 at his base of Gulfstream Park.
“I sent him to Kentucky [last year] and he won the Ellis Park Derby,” Dibona said. “He won the Carry Back here. I’ve been searching a little bit for the right distance. Last time, we stretched him back out and he got beat [three-quarters] of a length. He should have won, so the distance wasn’t a problem.”
Steal Sunshine is a son of Constitution who races for Carrie Brogden. Earlier in his career, he was second to eventual multiple Grade 3 winner Skippylongstocking in a first-level allowance at 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream.
Dibona is looking forward to the trip to Monmouth and running in the Iselin.
“I spent 12 years up there,” he said. “This is one I always wanted. It’s a race that I always wanted to win.”
Dibona said Hector Diaz Jr. is scheduled to ride Steal Sunshine.
Diaz was aboard the Dibona-trained Star of Saturn on Sunday, when the promising 2-year-old won her debut in a maiden special weight for Florida-bred fillies. She tracked the pace in the 5 1/2-furlong race and went on to a 1 1/4-length win.
“Impressive,” Dibona said. “When she got called on, she responded.
“She did a lot of good things. I think she’ll definitely be better as we stretch out.”
Dibona said next-race plans are to be determined for Star of Saturn.
“We’re all very excited,” he said. “She came out of the race awesome. She’s dancing and prancing this morning.”
Star of Saturn is by The Big Beast, the same sire as Dibona trainee Big and Classy. He won his seventh race from his last eight starts Saturday at Gulfstream, in an allowance for which he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 91.
Dibona said the horse could run back at Gulfstream.
“They’re talking about bringing the Benny the Bull back as a handicap,” he said of the race that did not go earlier in the meet. “Otherwise, we’re thinking about bringing him elsewhere.”
Maiden race tops card
The richest race on Friday’s card is a maiden special weight that carries a pure of $50,000. The seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up goes as the fifth race and is part of the Rainbow 6 jackpot pool that will have a minimum guaranteed pool of $375,000. The 20-cent bet, which has not been hit for 16 cards, runs on races 3-8.
Millennium Park, a 3-year-old filly by Curlin, has good racing experience in her favor when she takes on first-time starters by Bernardini, Good Magic, and Overanalyze.
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