A field of eight 2-year-old fillies – five coming off Maiden Special Weight victories – will get their first stakes try in the $100,000 Sharp Susan Stakes at Gulfstream Park this Friday. The featured race kicks off a 50-cent Late Pick 4 that shapes up this way:
Gulfstream Park 6th Race (3:06 EST)
BOOTS impressed in her debut, now enters the barn of trainer Carlos David, who is 37-for-185 (20 percent) the last three years with 2-year-old fillies. She was reluctant to load but sped to the front and inched away from 4-to-5 choice Celtic Dispute, who came back to beat the boys in the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes on the turf. ELEGANTE MIZ sustained a 4-wide rally from the far turn to the 5F finish line and surged late to win despite losing momentum while drifting in the stretch. She should get a good pace flow to rally into, but might show more speed off a fastest-of-47 workout since her first race. Speaking of fast workouts, first-time starter CANDY COLE sandwiched a pair of gate preps around a :48 bullet that was a full second or more faster than all but three others at 4F on June 15.
Gulfstream Park 7th Race (3:48 p.m. EST)
IFYOUSAIDSO dueled for the lead while inside of two rivals who finished behind her in the Grade 3 Mamzelle Stakes on the Churchill Downs lawn. There’s speed in this field, too, but she deserves a second look considering the deep closers in her last start were led by Cy Fair, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner, and Slay The Day, who returned with an easy win and a 93 Beyer speed figure in Grade 3 Soar Softly at Saratoga. CALYPSO MOON salvaged inside position from post 8, tracked a torrid pace and found room 3-wide in early stretch. She appeared to have the embattled leaders measured but was denied victory in the 5F allowance by a nose.
Gulfstream Park 8th Race (4:10 p.m. EST)
ROAR OF THE BEAST plays catch-me-if-you-can at a distance which he boasts a 10-length maiden win and 13-length allowance victory off similar rest. STEAL SUNSHINE, a winner and runner-up in the Gulfstream Park Mile (G-2) the last two years, might have lost a step at age 7. But he rallied 6-wide to finish second to the pace setter in a five-horse allowance last out and has posted a 90-plus Beyer in half of his 38 lifetime starts. LIGHTNING TONES, his $400,000 Gulfstream Park bankroll intact, started from an outer half post position in 8 of his last 10 starts this year, but he draws the rail today and looms a late-running threat.
Gulfstream Park 9th Race (4:42 p.m. EST)
GANADOR got the jump with a 3-wide bid into the stretch and beat four follow-up winners when he last raced on turf in March. The last time MEGACLES ran this distance on turf, he set the pace to the stretch on short rest in a stakes race for Florida-breds dominated by closers. The race produced a stakes runner-up and two next-out winners, including Maiden Special Weight runaway Serac. Use him as a longshot on the Pick 4 ticket. MALCOLM X steadied sharply off heels and dropped back to last on the backstretch, but recovered to finish second in the same spot two starts ago. DAVID PEPPERMAN beat GANADOR to break his maiden, but he seeks his first win since February for trainer Daniel Hurtak, who is on a 12-for-80 run since late March with a $11 average win mutuel.
Suggested Pick 4
GP 6th Race: 4, 5, 7
GP 7th Race: 5, 8
GP 8th Race: 1, 6, 7
GP 9th Race: 3, 4, 7, 10
Cost for a 50-Cent ticket: $36
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