Carotari captures the Janus Dec. 31, 2021, at Gulfstream Park (Lauren King)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.— William Branch’s Carotari seeks to continue his career success over the Gulfstream Park turf course in Saturday’s $125,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint, a five-furlong dash for older horses.
The 8-year-old gelding has been first or second in seven of nine starts on the Gulfstream turf during a long career that includes 17 finishes in the Top 2 from 30 starts at the five-furlong distance on turf.
Carotari captured back-to-back runnings of the Silks Run in 2020-2021 and also won the 2021 Janus at Gulfstream. Among his top stakes victories elsewhere are the 2022 Jim McKay Turf Sprint at Pimlico and the Laurel [Park] Dash.
The son of Artie Schiller most recently finished second in a Jan. 5 optional claiming allowance while coming off a five-month layoff.
“He’s doing great. We’re excited for his 8-year-old year. He was probably a little light on training when we gave him that prep race down there,” said trainer Brian Lynch from his training base at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park’s training facility in Palm Beach County. “The other day, I thought he ran fantastic. I think he’s really come on for the race. He’s really acting like he’s sitting on a good one.”
Lynch has been enjoying a very productive Championship Meet, during which he has achieved a 30-percent strike rate by saddling 15 winners from 50 starters.
“It’s been a great start to the year. It’s been a great Gulfstream meet so far. We seemed to have the right horses ready, and the condition book set up,” Lynch said. “We’ve had some racing luck, and the horses have been performing well. It’s nice to see all that stuff coming together and everyone getting rewarded for all their hard work.”
