Gulfstream Park’s Championship Meet will resume the day after Christmas with a 10-race card. The featured $125,000 Rampart Stakes is part of a $1 Bet 3 wager that spans one hour and has nine entrants in each leg. Here a closer look with a suggested $18 play:
GP 8th race (3:48 p.m. EST) -- BACK EM UP validated a troubled trip two back at 6F with a class-rising, runaway victory at 7F and a career-best 92 Beyer in his third start for this barn. He checked sharply nearing the turn and lost a couple lengths in the race two back, but he re-gathered momentum too late to catch the lead pair. CANUTO made an eye-catching sweep on the turn in the same race but was repelled by the pace setter en route to a half-length setback and his top 87 Beyer in the same spot. Our Bet 3 hopes will rest on these two runners in a competitive leadoff leg.
GP 9th race (4:18 p.m. EST) -- DAZZLING MOVE held clear leads and held for minor awards in three graded stakes at 1-1/8 miles in her last four starts. She hasn’t raced since she drifted to third in a five-horse field as the odds-on favorite in the G-3 Delaware Handicap in September, but she should appreciate the cutback in distance for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., who stands 54-for-254 with route runners off a similar rest the last two years. STERLING SILVER (pictured) parlayed her late kick into three Grade 2 placings, three 90-plus Beyers in dirt route races this year and a NY-bred stakes win at this distance. The millionairess raced with the track bias when she improved to 10-for-35 last out and starts fresh for a new barn in today’s Rampart Stakes. ONE MAGIC PHILLY willingly pursued but couldn’t pass eventual Breeders’ Cup Fillies & Mares Sprint champion Splendora and promising 3-year-old filly Shred the Gnar (3-4, $312k) in a pair of recent one-mile stakes. She won a six-figure allowance in between those starts to enhance her morning-line favoritism.
GP 10th race (4:48 p.m. EST) -- LA CANTERA is 7/3-2-1 in non-stakes races since she was claimed 15 months ago. She was patiently handled in her one-mile turf victory two starts ago, waiting for and finding a rail opening in the stretch to pull away from the field and gallop out strongly at this distance. SOUPER AMUSING has three wins and two losses by a neck in seven starts on the lawn, spanning 5-1/2F to 1-1/8 miles. She should sit a good stalking trip and offers good value to the Bet 3. INSOLENTA wasted clear stretch leads twice to fall to 0-for-7 on turf, but she romped in her last two route races on Gulfstream’s synthetic track in a manner that suggests she can handle the class hike off the re-claim on her return to the turf.
Suggested $1 Ticket
GP 7th Race: 4, 5
GP 8th Race: 1, 7, 8
GP 9th Race: 1, 2, 5
Cost: $18
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