Gulfstream Stakes Preview and Review

Gulfstream Park will resume racing on Thursday with nine races and first post of 12:00 p.m.

It will be the first of four consecutive race days at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track.  First post time each day will be 12:00 p.m.

The Escana on Saturday is the only stakes race listed for the four days.  It is 1 1/16 miles on dirt for fillies and mares 3-YO and up.

In Gulfstream's only stakes race this past weekend, Morning Stride beat Rijeka by a length on Sunday in the $60,000 Richard Henry Lee Stakes.

Prince of Arabia finished third, by another half length, in the 1 3/16 mile turf stakes for 3-YO and up. He came in one-half length ahead of the 2-1 favorite.

Odds on the first three finishers were 5-2, 4-1 and 10-1. The 3-6-1 trifecta paid $295.60 on a $2 bet.

It was the second straight Gulfstream win for Morning Stride, who is trained by Monica McGoey and is showing that he looks like "a longer the better" competitor.

The Richard Henry Lee was his third race for McGoey and 4RH Racing Stable. That followed a claim on June 13 when he finished fourth at one mile on turf in a $25,000 claiming race at Gulfstream.

In the first of those races, Morning Stride on June 28 finished third in a $16,000 optional claimer at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Gulfstream.

On July 19, Morning Stride won the 1 1/2 mile Home of the Brave Stakes over the Gulfstream turf--with Rijeka finishing second by 4 1/4 lengths.  It was the first stakes win for Morning Stride.

In the Richard Henry Lee, Morning Stride took the lead heading into the stretch and held off a late run by Rijeka, who was in eighth and last place heading into the far turn.

Hector Berrios rode Morning Stride in both stakes races. 

He won the Richard Henry Lee in 1:54.76   over the firm turf course and earned an Equibase Speed Figure of 105--strong but not spectacular for a stakes race.

The Gulfstream course record for 1 3/16 miles is 1:51.40.  The mare Suffused set it in winning The Very One Stakes on March  4, 2017.

Sunday's victory was the seventh in 26 career starts for Morning Stride.

McGoey said she hopes to next race Morning Stride at 1 1/8 miles or longer on turf.  But she noted that those races "are hard to find."

Morning Stride has breeding for longer races on turf.

He is a 5-year-old non-gelded son of Morning Line, who was a multiple stakes winner on turf.

His maternal grand sire was Victory Gallop.  In 1998, Victory Gallop won the 1 1/2 mile Belmont Stakes on dirt, with Real Quiet finishing second.

In the 1 1/4 mile Kentucky Derby and the 1 3/16 mile Preakness, Real Quiet was the winner with Victory Gallop finishing second.