HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Before the Florida Derby culminates an extremely busy Saturday, Gulfstream Park will run nine other stakes on a spectacular 14-race card that starts at 11:30 a.m. Eastern
In reverse order, here’s a quick rundown of those supporting stakes, all of them with big fields:
Grade 3, $100,000 Appleton (race 13, 6:00): Gulfstream saved this for (almost) last, and for good reason. It’s a fabulous race, with an oversubscribed (16) lineup of older turf milers eligible to get its lukewarm favorite from most anywhere. Sombeyay and English Bee, the respective one-two finishers from the Feb. 29 Canadian Turf, are among the many contenders, along with March to the Arch, Ballagh Rocks, Social Paranoia, and Mr Dumas. As many as 12 can start.
Grade 2, $200,000 Pan American (race 12, 5:26): Zulu Alpha, winner of the Pegasus World Cup Turf and Mac Diarmida already at this meet, figures as perhaps the heaviest favorite of the day when facing nine other older horses in this 1 1/2-mile turf race. Challengers include Channel Cat, Spooky Channel, Galleon Mast, and Focus Group.
Grade 2, $200,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (race 11, 4:49): Tonalist’s Shape and Spice Is Nice, the one-two finishers in the Davona Dale four weeks ago, renew their budding rivalry in a 1 1/16-mile race that offers 170 qualifying points (100-40-20-10) toward the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks. Other notable 3-year-old fillies in an overflow lineup include Lake Avenue, Lucrezia, and Swiss Skydiver. Fourteen are entered; as many as 12 can start.
Grade 3, $100,000 Orchid (race 10, 4:17): Mean Mary and Elizabeth Way, both emphatic winners of earlier graded stakes for filly-mare turf runners at the championship meet, are part of a deep field of 12 going the three-turn distance of 1 3/8 miles.
$100,000 Sand Springs (race 9, 3:34): Newspaperofrecord, initially pointed to the Jenny Wiley by Chad Brown before Keeneland canceled its spring meet, surely will be a decisive favorite when making her 4-year-old debut in a one-mile turf race that drew 13 fillies and mares (12 can start).
$75,000 Shackleton (race 8, 3:00): Vekoma will make his first start since a 12th-place finish in the 2019 Kentucky Derby when going seven furlongs in yet another full field of 12 that also includes Bourbon Calling, Last Judgment, Jackson, and He Hate Me.
$100,000 Sanibel Island (race 7, 2:30): Cheermeister and She’s My Type, who between them have accounted for all four stakes in the 3-year-old turf-filly division at this meet, will be among the favorites in this one-mile race, along with Walk In Marrakesh. Thirteen were entered; 12 can go.
Grade 3, $100,000 Hal’s Hope (race 6, 2:00): Harvey Wallbanger, Bodexpress, American Tattoo, and Rare Form are among the top names in a field of 11 older horses set to go 1 1/8 miles on the main track.
$100,000 Cutler Bay (race 4, 1:00): Javier Castellano will climb aboard the first of his many live stakes mounts when riding the likely favorite Vitalogy, a sharp last-out winner of the Palm Beach. This, too, drew an overflow field of 3-year-olds going a mile on turf, with Decorated Invader among the notable opposition when making his first start since the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.
The Grade 1, $750,000 Florida Derby goes as the 14th and last race at 6:36. Four early allowances (races 1, 2, 3, 5) fill out the card.
A forceout of the Rainbow 6, which had a jackpot of more than $1.4 million when action ended Wednesday, will further add to the Saturday drama. The 20-cent wager spans races 9-14.
The local forecast for Saturday calls for sunshine and a high of 82.
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