Gulfstream: Fast and Firm for Thursday

The dirt track is listed as fast and the turf course is listed as firm for Gulfstream Park’s ten-race Thursday card.

First post is at 1:00 p.m. The Weather Channel forecast is for just a five percent chance of rain during racing hours in Hallandale Beach where Gulfstream is located.

 

Five races are scheduled for turf, including the featured eighth race.

It is a $43,000 allowance at five furlongs on turf for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.  It is a $25,000 optional claimer.

Blame Dixie, Sound Defence and Missworldvenezuela are likely favorites in a nine-horse field.  Scheduled post is 4:43 p.m. 

The latter two have one win each at five furlongs on turf, in optional claimers, at Gulfstream this year.

 
Last fall, Blame Dixie won an optional claimer at five furlongs on turf at the Gulfstream Park West meet at Calder.

Storm Sense, at 20-1in the morning line, could be an attractive option for the exacta.

She is cutting back from a series of 1 1/16 mile turf claiming and optional claiming races at Gulfstream.  She has shown early speed in those races, all since last December, with three wins and a third place finish in eight starts. 

*There is a carryover of $280,007 on the Rainbow 6 on races five through ten.

The carryover is growing because Gulfstream has gone 18 straight race days without the jackpot/carryover payoff requirement of just one ticket  with  the winners of  all  six  Rainbow 6 races  

Gaffalione and Jaramillo Resume GP Rivalry

Gulfstream Park will resume its summer meet on Thursday with a ten-race card and first post of 1:00 p.m.

It will be the 21^st day of the 60-day summer meet that will end on Oct. 2.

And one of the biggest questions at Gulfstream this summer is whether Tyler Gaffalione can maintain his margin in wins over Emisael Jaramillo in the jockey standings.

Gaffalione heads into Thursday with 34-24 lead in wins over Jaramillo.  Luca Panici is next with 20 victories. Cornelio Velasquez and Eddie Castro each have 14 and are tied for fourth place.

Gaffalione led Jaramillo by a 34-18 margin heading into last Thursday’s four-day race week.

Gaffalione did not ride at Gulfstream or any other  track on Thursday through Saturday.

According to his Facebook page, he and other family members were in Tennessee to be with his sister who was injured in an auto accident.

Her car reportedly was struck by a drunk driver, and she reportedly is in stable condition.

Jaramillo rode a total of six winners at Gulfstream last Thursday, Friday and Sunday.  He was at Saratoga Race Course last Saturday, riding Delta Bluesman to a fourth place finish in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes (Grade 1).

On July 2  at Gulfstream, Jaramillo rode Delta Bluesman to a win in the Smile Sprint (Grade 2).

Gaffalione was scheduled to make his Saratoga debut last Wednesday July 27 on Doctor J Dub in a 5 ½ furlong turf allowance.  But he was in Tennessee.

Trainer Jena Antonucci shipped  Doctor J Dub in from Gulfstream, and that horse’s regular rider Gaffalione was scheduled to fly in for  the ride.  Instead, Florent Geroux rode Doctor J Dub, who finished sixth in a nine-horse field.

On July 2 at Gulfstream, Gaffalione rode Doctor J Dub in his victory in the five-furlong Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint.

Numerous  observers  expect that as soon as next year Jaramillo and/or Gaffalione could be riding the Saratoga-Belmont-Aqueduct circuit in New York from spring to fall while still riding at Gulfstream during its championship meet this winter.

Meanwhile, both riders  have busy days ahead at Gulfstream this weekend.

Gaffalione has seven mounts on Thursday, nine on Friday and eleven on Saturday.  Jaramillo has five mounts on Thursday, seven on Friday and eleven on Saturday.

On Saturday, Gulfstream has twelve races including the first legs of the four divisions of the Florida Sire Stakes Series.

Gaffalione is a native of Davie, Fla. He led jockeys in wins at last year’s Gulfstream summer meet  while he still had a five-pound apprentice allowance.  He was  voted the  winner of the 2015 Eclipse Award  as leading Apprentice Jockey.

Last year, he became known as the go-to rider  for trainer Ralph Nicks—and is now in high demand.

On Saturday, he has rides from eight trainers.  That list includes David Fawkes, Kathleen O’Connell, Stan Gold and Mark Casse.

Jaramillo led jockeys in wins  in Venezuela for several years before he began riding in South Florida last year.

He started mostly with mounts for prominent trainers from Venezuela, such as Antonio Sano and Gustavo  Delgado.

Over the next three days he also has rides from Peter Walder, Marty Wolfson, Ralph Ziadie and Mike Maker among other prominent trainers.

Jaramillo led jockeys in wins at this year’s Gulfstream spring meet.

As would be expected, Gaffalione and Jaramillo have many mounts that are favorites—and their presence often drives odds even lower on those horses.

*Heading into Thursday, Fawkes leads the summer meet trainer standings with ten wins. Sano is second with nine victories, followed by Nicks with eight victories.

 
Gelfenstein Farms leads owners with five wins. Frank Carl 
Calabrese, Grupo 7C Racing and Crossed Sabres Farm have four victories apiece and are tied for second place.
--Jim Freer

Gulfstream: New First Posts; Sire Stakes on Saturday

Starting this week, Gulfstream Park has a new first post time of 1:00 p.m. for Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

For several weeks, first post had been 1:15 p.m. for those days.

First post will be 12:35 p.m. this Saturday.  On recent Saturdays, first post  had been 12:45 p.m.

The earlier first post is for the remainder of Gulfstream’s summer meet, which ends Oct. 2.

The Thursday card has ten races.  A main attraction is a $280,000 carryover on the Rainbow 6, on races five through ten.

The carryover has grown because there have been eighteen straight race days without the jackpot/carryover payoff requirement of just one ticket with the winners of all six Rainbow 6 races.

Saturday Stakes

Gulfstream on Saturday Aug. 6 will have five stakes races, including the first legs in the four divisions of the Florida Sire Stakes series.

The Sire stakes races are restricted to sons and daughters of Florida-based stallions whose owners have nominated them for the series.

The four divisions are: two-year-old males; two-year-old fillies; three-year-old males; three-year-old fillies.  Each division has three races, this year continuing on Sept. 3 and concluding Oct. 1.

The fields and post positions for Saturday’s stakes will be announced on Wednesday afternoon.

This Saturday’s sire stakes races are:
* $200,000 Dr. Fager – two-year-old males, six furlongs on dirt

* $200,000 Desert Vixen – two-year-old fillies, six furlongs on dirt

* $150,000  Unbridled – three-year-olds, six furlongs on dirt

* 150,000 Three Ring – three-year-old fillies, six furlongs  on dirt

Other Saturday Stakes

* $75,000 Soaring Softly – Florida-breds  fillies and mares three-years-old and up, 1  1/16 miles on turf

--Jim Freer

Miss Hollywood Wins Monroe Stakes

Miss Hollywood led almost the entire route and  beat Distinta by five lengths in Sunday's $75,000 Monroe Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Winning  for Sarah finished third in the eight-horse field.  She was three-quarters of a length behind Distinta.

The Monroe was seven furlongs on dirt for fillies and mares three-years-old and up that had never won a stakes race on dirt.

Miss Hollywood, the 1-2 favorite, won in 1:22.65  on the track listed as fast.  Emisael Jaramillo rode the 4-year-old Miss Hollywood who is trained by Giuseppe Iadisernia and owned by Run Hard Stables.

1- Miss Hollywood      3.00     2.60    2.10
6 -Distinta                                6.20    3.40
2 -Winning for Sarah                          2.80
$2 Exacta 1-6 paid $15.80; $2 Trifecta 1-6-2 paid $44.00