Weekend Warrior for Saturday, Jan. 14: Picks for Hal's Hope, Fort Lauderdale, Fire Plug

Gulfstream Park has a graded stakes triple-header Saturday consisting of the Grade 2, $200,000 Fort Lauderdale; the Grade 3, $150,000 Hal’s Hope; and the Grade 3, $150,000 Marshua’s River. The only other graded event on Saturday’s schedule is the feature at Santa Anita – the Grade 2, $200,000 La Canada Stakes.

Hal’s Hope Stakes

Tommy Macho and Mr. Jordan will have their share of backers here – Tommy Macho for the simple fact that he’s trained by Todd Pletcher, who is winning at a stunning 34 percent clip at Gulfstream, but also because of his big win over the track in the Fred Hooper last winter, and Mr. Jordan off romping wins in his last two starts – but I’m siding against both.

Tommy Macho flat stopped in his comeback in the Kelso two starts back, and despite setting a very slow early pace in the Richard Small last time out, he gave way again. Mr. Jordan can be a quirky sort, and I’m not sold on the notion that he’s as effective in one-turn races like this one as he is going two turns.

I gave a long look to Ami’s Flatter despite a dud most recently in the Bold Ruler. Ami’s Flatter won big over the track last winter, was the beaten favorite when fourth to Tommy Macho in the subsequent Fred Hooper, but followed with a decisive score in the Commonwealth Stakes.

After that, Ami’s Flatter had no shot in Frosted’s explosive Met Mile, was on the wrong surface on turf in the Play the King, and was a respectable third in the Phoenix two starts back to the prolific A. P. Indian. In the end, my concern is that Ami’s Flatter might be at his best at distances shorter than this one-turn mile. However, I will be using Ami’s Flatter in some fashion in the late pick five and pick four.

Realm is my main play here. Realm, who had shown flashes of real ability early in his still-young career, really put it together with a romping score two starts back at Aqueduct, a performance that was validated when the runner-up came back to win his next start, and showed a two-point Beyer Speed Figure improvement. Realm held his career-best form most recently when third in the Cigar Mile, finishing ahead of three next-out winners – War Story, who came back to dominate the Queens County with a 99 Beyer, and allowance winners Tale of S’avall and Ocean Knight.

Notably, Realm’s last two outings were going one-turn miles. I also think his stalk-from-close-range style will play well in this spot.

Fort Lauderdale Stakes

Heart to Heart stands on the brink of $1 million in earnings, but you would run out of fingers counting the number of times he has capitalized on very easy early leads. With Diamond Bachelor in this field along with Macagone, who shockingly won while rating last time but has to go from an outside post here, you would have to think that Heart to Heart will be kept honest up front this time.

I’ve been a Divisidero fan for a while. He’s absolutely good enough to win off his seven-month layoff as he runs big fresh. I’ll be using him in multirace exotics, although I sense that he’s really prepping for next month’s Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap.

I’m going with Lukes Alley, who won last year’s Gulfstream Park Turf after finishing second to Heart to Heart in this race when compromised by a slow pace. Lukes Alley is suitably fresh, and he has the positional foot to be reasonably close early.

Fire Plug Stakes

There are many need-the-lead types in this sprint feature at Laurel, and barring forecasted wintry weather making for a biased racing surface, Chublicious has an off-the-pace style that will benefit from the projected pace setup.

Chublicious’s closing style was a disadvantage most recently in the Dave’s Friend due to a very slow first quarter-mile that turned it into a merry-go-round race. And he got going too late two starts back off a three-month layoff when a gaining fourth in the Fabulous Strike. But Chublicious ran well in winning all three of his starts last summer at Monmouth, including an effort in the Mr. Prospector that would be more than good enough to win this.