Zulu Alpha scores narrow repeat in Mac Diarmida

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A pair of graded races for older male turf horses served as exciting lead-ins Saturday on the huge Fountain of Youth undercard at Gulfstream Park.

Zulu Alpha wins Mac Diarmida

It wasn’t all that easy, but Zulu Alpha came through as the even-money favorite when wearing down Admission Office in the final furlong to become a repeat winner of the Grade 2, $200,000 Mac Diarmida, which directly preceded the program finale, the Fountain of Youth.

A last-out winner of the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf, Zulu Alpha and jockey Tyler Gaffalione were away a bit slowly and raced near the back of the nine-horse field for much of the 1 3/8-mile distance. But into the far turn, following right behind Admission Office, both horses looped the field and set sail together for the wire.

Down the stretch, Admission Office and jockey Manny Franco battled gamely while nearest the rail, but Zulu Alpha steadily edged away to win by a length. It was another 3 3/4 lengths back to Sadler’s Joy, who out-nodded Channel Maker for third.

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Zulu Alpha, a 7-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Street Cry, returned $4 after finishing in 2:11.47 over a firm course.

“Coming into the stretch, when I asked him for his best, he gave it to me,” said Gaffalione. “He’s just an incredible athlete. He’s such a great horse and so much fun to ride.”

“He’s got the will to win, that’s for sure,” said Maker.

Michael Hui claimed Zulu Alpha for $80,000 in September 2018, and now the 5-year-old horse has become one of the elites in the division. Including the 2019 and 2020 Mac Diarmida and the Jan. 25 Pegasus Turf, he now has won six graded stakes from 13 starts under Hui’s pink silks.

Mindful of the Nov. 7 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland being their long-term goal, Hui and Maker are considering a relatively light schedule for Zulu Alpha through the spring and summer, with a turnback in the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic perhaps the next race on the agenda. That 1 1/8-mile race will directly precede the Kentucky Derby on May 2 at Churchill Downs.

Sombeyay takes Canadian Turf

An hour earlier, Sombeyay used a well-timed move from jockey Flavien Prat to get first run on a gang of pursuers in winning the Grade 3, $150,000 Canadian Turf.

Trained by Todd Pletcher for Starlight Racing, Sombeyay prevailed as a lukewarm 7-2 favorite in a field of 12, returning $9.40 after finishing the one-mile distance in 1:32.44.

Leaving the eighth pole, Sombeyay overhauled his free-wheeling stablemate, Gidu, who had opened a sizable lead on the backstretch, before finishing a half-length ahead of late-running English Bee. It was another neck back to Hay Dakota and Louder Than Bombs in a dead-heat for third, with Gidu fading to fifth.

Sombeyay “broke well and put me in the race,” said Prat. “Once I got to the lead he kind of looked around a little bit, but I had more horse if I needed it.”

Winner of the Grade 3 Sanford at Saratoga as a 2-year-old, Sombeyay, now 4, has developed in fairly quick order into an effective turf miler, noted Starlight founder Jack Wolf. This was his second start following a nearly six-month gap in his racing schedule.

“The mile on turf – that’s turning out to be what’s best for him,” said Wolf. “When he barely got beat last summer” in the Hall of Fame at Saratoga, “that’s when we said, this is him.”

Pletcher and Wolf said they would consider the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile on April 10 at Keeneland as a possible next start for Sombeyay, a Kentucky-bred colt by Into Mischief.