HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mucho Macho Man, Jackson Bend, and Tackleberry are among the most popular horses to compete at Gulfstream Park over the last two winters, each with his own group of loyal supporters, all of whom figure to be out in force on Saturday when the trio square off in the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap.
The Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap highlights Saturday’s 11-race card that also includes the Grade 3 Swale for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The winter hasn’t gone quite as smoothly as trainer Jonathan Sheppard had hoped for Ever So Lucky, but the Hall of Fame horseman will finally take the wraps off his top 3-year-old prospect when sending him out against nine rivals in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Swale at Gulfstream Park.
Here's my race-by-race rundown of Friday's pick four at Tampa Bay Downs on March 10, 2012. I'm building my wager with TicketMaker, found exclusively on DRF.com.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A spring campaign by the promising California-bred 3-year-old Points Offthebench has ended early. The gelding sustained a non-displaced condylar fracture of his left front in a March 3 workout at Santa Anita, sidelining him before his second start of the season as a favorite in the $200,000 Echo Eddie Stakes on March 31.
Less than a month ago, the undefeated but relatively inexperienced Spring Hill Farm was well down on the depth chart of trainer Todd Pletcher’s potent team of Kentucky Derby prospects. But after two of Pletcher’s principal players, Algorithms and Discreet Dancer, recently dropped off the Derby trail, Spring Hill Farm suddenly finds himself one of the starting five and hoping to impress his coach even further with another big performance in Saturday’s $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Force de La Nature, who finished third in the Grade 3 Schuylerville at Saratoga last summer, makes her second start of the year in the Suncoast Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile and 40 yards on the dirt main track.
Trained by Eddie Kenneally, Force de La Nature lost her best chance to win her 3-year-old debut when she broke in a tangle in an optional-claiming sprint at Gulfstream Park. She rallied for third, much like she did in the Schuylerville last year, and her late-running style suggests she will appreciate the two turns of the Suncoast.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Dixie Strike, who is a half-sister to last year’s Queen’s Plate winner Inglorious, has been made the 4-1 favorite in this year’s Queen’s Plate winter book.
The hypothetical winter book, compiled for the first time by Daily Racing Form ’s Ron Gierkink and Bill Tallon, lists odds for the 117 Canadian-bred 3-year-olds who remained eligible for the Queen’s Plate as of Feb. 1.
The $1 million Queen’s Plate, the 1 1/4-mile race that is the first leg of Canada’s Triple Crown, will be run here at Woodbine on June 24.
As a 3-year-old last season, Bold Affair was good enough to win a $200,000 stakes against open company. Given nearly seven weeks off following two losing efforts in January, Bold Affair will drop to face Maryland-breds for the first time in Saturday’s $75,000 Conniver Stakes at Laurel Park.
PHOENIX – In her last two starts, Complete Rule has looked like a very good 4-year-old filly in the making. Now it’s time to find out how good she might be, when she faces stakes horses for the first time Saturday in $35,000 Mesa Handicap for fillies and mares at Turf Paradise. Seven are entered going 6 1/2 furlongs on the main track.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – A rematch between last year’s one-two finishers in the Hillsborough Stakes, Denomination and Zagora, spices up Saturday’s Festival Day, which is headed by the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby. The Grade 3, $150,000 Hillsborough, race 10, is sandwiched by the $100,000 Stonewall Farm Ocala Suncoast Stakes (race 9) and the Tampa Bay Derby (race 11).
