Weekend Warrior for Saturday, Feb. 11: Picks for Gulfstream Handicap, Tampa Bay Stakes, Martha Washington

Florida has the spotlight Saturday with three graded stakes each at Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs. Gulfstream’s card is topped by the Grade 1, $350,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap. There are four stakes in Tampa, led by the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis, which marks the first start of the year for top Kentucky Derby aspirant McCraken. And Santa Anita offers two Grade 2, $200,000 races – the Arcadia and Santa Maria.

Gulfstream Park Handicap

Trainer Todd Pletcher has a formidable pair for this race in Tommy Macho and Zulu. Tommy Macho was an explosive winner of the Hal’s Hope most recently, romping by almost six lengths and earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105. Even if Tommy Macho was the favorite that day, his performance was a surprise given his uninspiring efforts in his first two efforts back from an eight-month layoff. But if Tommy Macho can duplicate his Hal’s Hope effort, he will be a handful. As for Zulu, he recently returned from a seven-month layoff with a decisive victory in the Tamarac Stakes. Zulu finished second in last year’s Fountain of Youth after impressively winning his first two starts, and being still very promising and so lightly raced, he is certainly eligible to take a big step forward.

However, Tommy Macho and Zulu must be at their best to beat Sharp Azteca, who is a strong play for me. Sharp Azteca has run some monstrous races, such as his victory in the Pat Day Mile, a one-turn mile like this event, on last year’s Kentucky Derby undercard. Sharp Azteca forced a ridiculously fast pace in the Pat Day, one that should have rendered him empty late. Instead, Sharp Azteca drew off powerfully to humble 13 opponents.

But as impressive as Sharp Azteca’s Pat Day Mile was, he ran even better in narrow defeat last time out in the Grade 1 Malibu. Again, Sharp Azteca forced a fast early pace. But this time, he made his move at the front-runner during a second-quarter-mile run in a scorching 21.64 seconds.

Despite that premature move, Sharp Azteca still opened a clear lead in upper stretch and was only caught late, beaten just a half-length by Mind Your Biscuits, who enjoyed a perfect trip sitting just off the pace duel. Mind Your Biscuits, of course, finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last fall and has emerged as one of the best sprinters in the country.

In any case, Sharp Azteca is the controlling speed Saturday. In view of his stellar try in the Malibu and his big score in the City of Laurel two starts back, he is too good to squander a pace advantage like that.

Tampa Bay Stakes

Newly turned 4-year-olds like Catapult, the winner of the Gio Ponti in his last appearance, and Inspector Lynley, who was bottled up for most of the stretch run when fifth in the Tropical Park Derby most recently, have appeal in this spot. But Kasaqui is the one for me simply because he has been competitive with much stronger company.

That wasn’t the case last time out for Kasaqui in the Fayette Stakes, where he was eased through the stretch, but that is an outing that must be ignored as it was a failed experiment on dirt. Two starts back, Kasaqui was beaten only two lengths when fifth in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile, and he was beaten less than that by third-place finisher Tourist, who, of course, came back to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile. And three starts back, Kasaqui was a narrowly beaten second in a Grade 1 Arlington Million that, while not the strongest ever run, was still a much tougher race than this one.

Martha Washington Stakes

I have this competitive headliner at Oaklawn between Lovely Bernadette and Benner Island. Lovely Bernadette was used early from an outside post in the Golden Rod last time and can now return to the closing style she employed to win the Rags to Riches two starts back over subsequent Golden Rod winner Farrell. Benner Island comes off a blowout score over 11 opponents at Churchill Downs and now adds Lasix.

Benner Island is my preference. I sense that she has always been highly regarded by her high-percentage barn, considering that she was spotted in two stakes off a nondescript debut win.