Coming with a steady run down the center of the track, Sagamore Farm and WinStar Farm’s Grade 3 winner Global Campaign emerged a 1 ½-length winner of Saturday’s 11th race at Gulfstream Park, his first action in nine months.
Ridden by Chris Landeros for trainer Stanley Hough, Global Campaign ($7.60) ran seven furlongs in 1:21.71 over a fast main track to capture the stakes-quality third-level optional claiming allowance for 4-year-olds and up.
Global Campaign, a 4-year-old son of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin, went unraced at 2 and raced in stops and starts at 3 thanks to nagging minor foot injuries. He won his first two career starts and was fifth in the Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream last winter, then won the Peter Pan (G3) at Belmont Park and went to the sidelines after finishing third in the Jim Dandy (G2) last July at Saratoga.
“He went through a lot to get here,” Hough said. “His last work was great. We had to be pretty careful with him, but he’s doing really good and it looked like he came back good. I’m so excited about the future with him.
“It’s hard from 3 to 4, anyway, and you couldn’t train him probably the way you’d like to, but he’s been doing great,” he added. “Watching the race, I didn’t think he was going to fire and then he got there, so it was great. We’ll see what happens. We don’t know what’s going to go on.”
Rare Form ran an opening quarter-mile in 22.42 seconds but was overtaken by Grade 3 winner Yorkton, racing first time for trainer H. Graham Motion, after a half in 44.20. Landeros had Global Campaign in the clear in fourth and began working on him midway around the turn, maintaining an outside position and outrunning his six rivals to the wire.
“I didn’t really give him any instructions. I told him how he likes to warm up,” Hough said. “He kind of lunged out of the gate. I just told him to let him get himself together and do your best, and he rode him great.”
Yorkton edged late-running multiple stakes winner and Grade 2-placed Majestic Dunhill for second with 2019 Louisiana Derby (G2) runner-up Spinoff fourth, the latter two – like the winner – coming off layoffs dating back to last summer. Soldado, the 2-1 favorite, ran sixth to snap his two-race win streak this year.
Gulfstream Park Press Release
Photo: Global Campaign at Gulfstream Park. Credit: Coglianese Photos/Leslie Martin
