Wide variety of choices in Gulfstream allowance feature

Friday’s nine-race program at Gulfstream Park is topped by a $46,000 allowance restricted to Florida-breds going six furlongs over the main track, an excellent betting event that lured a very evenly matched and full field of a dozen older horses that range in age from 3-year-olds Manor House and The Distractor to the 9-year-old veteran Royal Squeeze.

Vinnie Van Go, who was claimed back by trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. for $12,500 out of a second-place finish in his most recent start, is likely to go postward as the tepid favorite. Vinnie Van Go has not only been a mainstay in the category for the majority of the season, he also has been a very popular item at the claim box, having changed hands in seven of his last eight starts. His lone victory in eight starts on the year came June 27, when he wired the field and posted a season’s-best 83 Beyer Speed Figure registering a decisive 2 1/4-length triumph against similar opposition while also having a claim dropped in his name that day voided a short while later by the track veterinarian.

Royal Squeeze has posted 13 victories in 57 career starts for earnings in excess of $644,000 and also was claimed out of his most recent try for $12,500 by his current connections, Olympia Stables and trainer Peter Walder. Royal Squeeze also will rematch with Vinnie Van Go in Friday’s main event, having finished a neck behind that rival when third despite a wide trip in the pair’s previous meeting on Aug. 20.

Other key contenders include Gangly, who won this same condition on April 1; Royal Squeeze’s uncoupled stablemate Man of Vision; and the much-improved Handsome Prince.