Sean Levey (Coglianese)
Mr. Prospector (G3) Among Five $125,000 Stakes Christmas Weekend
Impressive Debut Winner Juliet’s Rose Returns in Friday Co-Feature
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.— Traveling abroad to ride races is nothing new for Sean Levey, a Group 1 winner in both England and France. But this winter, the acclaimed British jockey has embarked on a new journey that has taken him to America for the first time.
First-call rider for the powerful Richard Hannon stable in England, the 35-year-old Levey will be based through February at Gulfstream Park, which kicked off its prestigious Championship Meet – the nation’s top winter racing destination – Dec. 1.
Levey made his U.S. debut in an optional claiming allowance Dec. 9 aboard 3-year-old gelding Harrington and rode 2-year-old gelding Simsoum in a maiden special weight Dec. 10, each over Gulfstream’s new turf course. Both horses are trained by Nader Moubarak, the son of Grade 1-winning trainer Mohamed Moubarak.
“There’s no doubt it’s very different from what I’m accustomed to, but at the same time it was nice to get a couple of rides and get a look at the course,” Levey said. “I’m looking forward to picking up some more mounts.”
Born in the small Southern African country of Swaziland, now called Eswatini, Levey moved to Ireland as a teenager and spent six years with trainer Aidan O’Brien before going to England in 2011. In 2018 he won the 1,000 Guineas on Billesdon Brook, at 66-1 still the highest-priced winner of a race first run in 1814.
Levey won two more Group 1 races in 2019, the Sun Chariot Stakes on Billesdon Brook and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Ascot aboard King of Change. Other Group 1 wins have come with Snow Lantern in the 2021 Falmouth at Newmarket; Aristria in the Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville; and top 2-year-old Rosallion in this year’s Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp.
“No doubt, I had a very good year this year with some top horses that I’ll definitely be looking forward to getting up on again come the summer in England,” Levey said. “It’s down time in England at the moment and it’s nice to get away and keep riding, keep being competitive during the winter and hopefully that will help when I go back.”
Levey has been getting on horses in the morning for Barbados native Saffie Joseph Jr., who has won eight consecutive training titles at Gulfstream including back-to-back Championship Meets.
“I was lucky enough to meet Saffie in Barbados a few years ago, so I had that connection. He’s been throwing me out a few sets and I’ve been breezing for him through the weekends and whenever he’s been asking,” Levey said. “I’ve seen a lot of the track so far. I’ve obviously [just] raced on the turf so far but I’ve breezed on the Tapeta and breezed on the dirt, so I’m getting a good look at it all.”
Trainer Arnaud Delacour has named Levey to ride McLovin in Saturday’s $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial, a two-mile turf test where he is the 5-2 second choice on the morning line behind defending champion Value Engineering. Levey is also named on 3-year-old filly Cerchi for trainer Ron Spatz in a Sunday maiden special weight scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
“I’m here to obviously gain a bit of experience,” Levey said. “It was nice to be able to get away and gain some more experience and try and be competitive and pick up whatever rides I can. There’s no doubt this is a very competitive meet in America at the moment. It was nice to get the opportunity to come over and ride and challenge myself to do something different.”
The Championship Meet jockey colony is one of the deepest in the country, boasting Hall of Famers Javier Castellano and John Velazquez; Irad Ortiz Jr., the nation’s leader in wins and purse earnings, and his fellow Eclipse Award-winning brother, Jose; past meet champions Luis Saez and Paco Lopez; 2023 George Woolf nominee Junior Alvarado; and local stalwarts Edgard Zayas, Miguel Vasquez and Emisael Jaramillo.
“Listen, no doubt anyone who is anyone is down here at the moment. I’m looking forward to learning off them and at the same time looking forward to being competitive,” Levey said. “With a little bit of luck, I keep getting those opportunities.”
Mr. Prospector (G3) Among Five $125,000 Stakes Christmas Weekend
Defending champion and subsequent Group 1 winner Sibelius, Grade 2 winners Howbeit and Scaramouche and multiple graded-stakes placed Ny Traffic and Super Chow are among 16 horses nominated to the $125,000 Mr. Prospector (G3) Saturday, Dec. 23.
The seven-furlong Mr. Prospector for 3-year-olds and up is one of five $125,000 stakes, two graded and three scheduled for Gulfstream’s new turf course, over Christmas weekend. Also on Saturday are the six-furlong Sugar Swirl (G3) for fillies and mares 3 and up and the Tropical Park Derby for 3-year-olds and Tropical Park Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, both 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
Sunday’s Christmas Eve program will be headlined by the 1 3/8-mile Via Borghese for fillies and mares 3 and up, also scheduled for the turf.
Sibelius earned his second stakes win and first in graded company in last year’s Mr. Prospector, a 2 ¼-length upset over 10 rivals to cap his 4-year-old season. He began 2023 with a stakes-record performance in the Pelican at Tampa Bay Downs before heading to Dubai, where he defeated defending champion Switzerland in the Golden Shaheen (G1). He is based at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, where he has breezed five times since mid-November for trainer Jerry O’Dwyer.
Howbeit won the six-furlong Santa Anita Sprint Championship last fall but is winless this year, claimed for $100,000 out of his third start in April. Scaramouche also has yet to find the winner’s circle in 2023 after going 6-for-10 last year including a half-length upset in the Gallant Bob (G2).
Ny Traffic ran in both the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1) in 2020 and has placed in five graded-stakes, beaten a nose by subsequent Derby winner Authentic in the Haskell (G1). Super Chow, entered in an optional claiming allowance Saturday at Gulfstream, is twice graded-placed and was a popular winner of Gulfstream’s six-furlong Hutcheson March 18.
Bluefield, an eight-time winner including the seven-furlong City of Ocala Dec. 9 at Tampa; Infinite Diamond, who captured the one-mile Cash Run Jan. 1 at Gulfstream; My Destiny, winner of 11 of 27 starts that ran second last out in the Mahoning Valley Distaff Nov. 20; and Unifying, a three-length winner of the seven-furlong Leslie’s Lady June 11 at Ellis Park in her last start, top the Sugar Swirl nominees.
Eighteen sophomores were nominated to the Tropical Park Derby including Armstrong, winner of the Bear’s Den and Showing Up on Gulfstream’s all-weather Tapeta this fall; Sept. 3 Dueling Grounds Derby (G3) winner Anglophile; 2022 With Anticipation (G3) winner Boppy O; Candidate, winner of the one-mile Dania Beach over the Gulfstream turf Jan. 7; April Fools Andy and Irish Aces, both riding two-race win streaks; Northern Invader and Ohana Honor, respectively 1-2 in the Oct. 6 Gio Ponti at Aqueduct; and multiple stakes-placed Smokey Mandate and Souper Blessing.
Most popular among horsemen was the Tropical Park Oaks, which drew 23 nominations. Prominent among them are Peruvian Group 2 winner Abundancia; Accomplished Girl, Sept. 18 winner of the Presque Isle Masters (G2) last out on Tapeta; stablemates Cairo Consort and Alpha Bella, respectively 1-2 in Gulfstream’s Sweetest Chant (G3) Feb. 4; Nov. 11 Pebbles (G3) winner Implicated; Time Passage, a winner of four straight races, three of them in Gulfstream Tapeta stakes; and graded-stakes placed Breath Away, Dolce Sopresa, Opus Forty Two, Riding Pretty and Startup Mentality.
Oct. 22 Dowager (G3) winner Romagna Mia; Nov. 23 Cardinal (G3) winner Star Fortress; five-time graded-stakes placed Sister Otoole; and Sand and Sea, a winner of two straight including the Dec. 3 Orange Blossom at Gulfstream, top 15 nominees to the Via Borghese.
Impressive Debut Winner Juliet’s Rose Returns in Friday Co-Feature
Siena Farm’s homebred filly Juliet’s Rose, an eye-catching debut winner over older horses last month, returns to face winners for the first time in Friday’s co-featured ninth race at Gulfstream Park.
The 3-year-old daughter of Bolt d’Oro, based at Gulfstream with trainer Ralph Nicks, raced just off the lead for a half-mile before taking over at the top of the stretch and pulling clear to win by 4 ¾ lengths in a 6 ½-furlong maiden special weight Nov. 5.
Juliet’s Rose cuts back to six furlongs for Friday’s entry-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up, where she is the 8-5 program favorite from Post 5 in a field of eight. Jockey Leonel Reyes gets the return call.
Breaking just to her inside is Rohan Crichton-owned and trained Dem a Wonder, a 5-year-old Hello Broadway mare that has won 11 of 35 career starts and nearly $300,000 in purses, including a 10-for-31 mark at Gulfstream. Irad Ortiz Jr., up for a win and a third in two tries last winter, has the assignment.
Juvenile fillies will be in the spotlight in Race 2, a five-furlong optional claiming allowance scheduled for five furlongs on the turf. Castleton Lyons’ homebred El Terreno, trained by Christophe Clement, was a front-running 11-length winner of her unveiling Oct. 25 over the all-weather course at Presque Isle Downs in her lone start. Sent off at 8-1 that day, the daughter of the late sprint champion Speightstown is 7-5 on the morning line.
Stefania Farms’ Fairhopecurly won her first two starts this summer and fall in the Midwest then, after running fifth in a turf sprint stakes at Keeneland, was claimed by trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. for $75,000 out of a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance over Gulfstream’s Tapeta course Nov. 24.
Race 7 is an entry-level optional claiming allowance for 2-year-old fillies scheduled for one mile on the grass, where Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott will send out Gainesway Stable’s San Pantaleo, who graduated by 2 ½ lengths in gate-to-wire fashion going six furlongs Nov. 5 on the Aqueduct turf. Tracy Farmer’s Time to Dazzle won her debut at the same distance and surface Sept. 17 at Woodbine and drops after finishing ninth in the 1 1/16-mile Jessamine (G2) Oct. 6 at Keeneland. De Regreso and Alcohol, respectively third and fourth in the one-mile, 70-yard Our Dear Peggy on Gulfstream’s Tapeta Nov. 3, are also entered.
