Let Them Watch captures the Sandpiper Dec. 2 at Tampa Bay Downs (Ben Baugh)
Buttercream Babe Chasing Stakes Win in $125K Ginger Brew
G3 Winners Dean Delivers, Willy Boi Top Sunshine Sprint Noms
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.— Case Chambers’ Let Them Watch will be back on friendly territory for Sunday’s $100,000 Glitter Woman at Gulfstream Park, where the daughter of Maximus Mischief is undefeated in two starts.
The Mike Maker trainee launched her career at Gulfstream with back-to-back victories, producing a 6 ½-length romp in her July 7 debut and a dominating 2 ¾-length decision in the six-furlong Sharp Susan Stakes Aug. 13.
Let Them Watch sustained her first loss in the Oct. 27 Myrtlewood at Keeneland but bounced back to win the six-furlong Sandpiper at Tampa Bay Downs Dec. 2.
“She started off really well here. We had the intent of running her at Kentucky Downs. We shipped up but she got sick. We missed a little time with her. I don’t think she was right and wasn’t quite ready to go [at Keeneland},” said Nolan Ramsey, Maker’s assistant trainer. “When she shipped back down here, she still wasn’t quire ready. The work before the stake at Tampa, she showed me was ready. We expected a big effort from her that day, and she really showed up.”
Hector Diaz Jr., who was aboard for Let Them Watch’s three victories, has the return call in the six-furlong Glitter Woman that attracted a field of seven 3-year-old fillies.
Black Type Thoroughbreds and partners’ Caress enters the Glitter Woman off a second-place optional claiming allowance at Aqueduct. The George Weaver-trained daughter of Connect won at first asking at Aqueduct before finishing fourth in a Laurel stakes.
AMO Racng USA’s Launch, who was winless on turf in seven tries in Europe, is coming off a dazzling U.S. and dirt debut, in which she a six-furlong maiden special weight race by 7 ½ lengths at Delaware Oct. 18.
Joanne Shankle’s Kissedbyanangel enters the Glitter Woman off a two-length front-running score in the Dec. 2 Maryland Juvenile Filly at Laurel.
Ian Wilkes-trained Into Champagne, who is coming off a seven-month layoff since a sharp debut victory at Ellis Park; Murat Sancal-trained Indescriptable, a 2 ¾-length maiden winner last time out; and Julie Stormfelt-trained Scootaloo, a 4 ¾-length maiden winner at Gulfstream last out; are also entered.
Buttercream Babe Chasing Stakes Win in $125K Ginger Brew
Three Diamonds Farm’s Buttercream Babe, whose juvenile campaign saw her race from coast to coast and come up a neck short of earning graded-stakes credentials, is set to launch 2024 where last season ended, at Gulfstream Park, in Saturday’s $125,000 Ginger Brew.
The Ginger Brew for newly turned 3-year-old fillies, scheduled for one mile on the grass, is the first of three stakes worth $325,000 in purses followed by the $100,000 Limehouse sprinting six furlongs and $125,000 Dania Beach at a mile on the turf, both for 3-year-olds.
Buttercream Babe, a bay daughter of Twirling Candy, will be making her second straight start on the new Gulfstream course after finishing fourth, beaten 2 ½ lengths, in the 7 ½-furlong Wait a While Dec. 9. The winner of that race, Ozara, also returns in the Ginger Brew.
It marked a solid comeback effort for Buttercream Babe after being compromised by a slow start that saw race far back early and trail to the wire in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) Nov. 3 at Santa Anita.
“She lost all chance at the break and then got sandwiched into the first turn, and [jockey] Luis [Saez] more or less took care of her the rest of the way,” Nolan Ramsey, assistant to trainer Mike Maker, said. “I think that one was a toss, and I think she showed us in her last race that she belongs.
“She ran a good race last time. It was a tough field, and we’ve been asking a lot of her this fall and into the winter – quick races, back-to-back, a lot of shipping – so I thought it was a pretty solid effort out of the Breeders’ Cup,” he added. “I’d like to see her move forward from the race. Maybe getting a little cleaner trip will help, too.”
Buttercream Babe graduated at first asking and ran third in the Untapable in her first two starts, both sprinting 6 ½ furlongs on the grass at Kentucky Downs. From there she was sent to California and prepped for the Breeders’ Cup running a tough-luck second in the one-mile Surfer Girl (G3) at Santa Anita.
“She had some contact late and I kind of thought she probably deserved to be put up. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case,” Ramsey said. “We raced her three races back-to-back to-back pretty quick, and it seemed like each time we ran her the better she got. After the Breeders’ Cup she got a little bit of time. She’s had a little bit more time between this race and the last, so I’d like to think she’s going to be right there for us.”
Saez gets the return call from Post 8 in an overflow field of 13. Trainer Graham Motion said multiple Grade 3-placed Yatta will scratch, allowing the lone also-eligible, Mojave Desert, the opportunity to run.
“She’s a solid horse. We give her a lot of credit, and we’ve asked a lot of her,” Ramsey said of Buttercream Babe. “She’s done really well for us as a 2-year-old. Hopefully, she continues that as a 3-year-old and we can have a nice little year for her.”
G3 Winners Dean Delivers, Willy Boi Top Sunshine Sprint Noms
Grade 3 winners Dean Delivers and Willy Boi and fellow Grade 1-placed Baby Yoda are among 14 horses nominated to the $75,000 Sunshine Sprint Saturday, Jan. 13 at Gulfstream Park.
The six-furlong Sunshine Sprint for 4-year-olds and up is the first of two stakes for Florida-breds on the second weekend of the new year, followed by the $75,000 Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf going one mile for females 4 and older Sunday, Jan. 14.
Stonehedge homebred Dean Delivers won the Big Drama and Smile Sprint (G3) at Gulfstream and was third in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1) at Saratoga in successive starts last summer. Placed in eight stakes, including the 2022 Swale (G2) and 2023 Fred Hooper (G3), he was second as the favorite in the FSS Marion County Dec. 9 at Tampa Bay Downs.
After winning the 2021 Hutcheson at Gulfstream, Flying P Stable’s Willy Boi preceded Dean Delivers with wins in the Big Drama and Smile Sprint before a third in the Vanderbilt in 2022. Claimed for $62,500 last August at Saratoga, he exits a fourth in the Marion County.
Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber and Jerold Zaro’s Baby Yoda has been third or better in 15 of 21 lifetime starts with seven wins but is still seeking his first stakes victory. He has placed four times including seconds in the 2021 Malibu (G1) and 2022 Kelso (G2) and a third in the 2021 Vosburgh (G2).
Other nominees with stakes success are Turbo, winner of the 2022 Juvenile Sprint at Gulfstream unraced since finishing second in the Limehouse on New Year’s Day 2023; 2022 OBS Sophomore winner King Cab; and Khozeiress, winner of Gulfstream’s Awesome Banner overnight handicap in November. Graded-stakes placed Capture the Lion and Mish and 10-time career winner The Distractor are also prominent.
Michael Dubb, Stephen Bouchey, New Phoenix Stable and America’s Pastimes Stables’ defending champion Sweet Dani Girl, who went on to win the Distaff Turf at Tampa Bay Downs and run second in the Modesty (G3) and third in the Mint Julep (G3), tops nominees to the Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf.
Laurie Plesa and Glassman Racing’s Time Passage has put together four consecutive wins for trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. including the Powder Break overnight handicap, Miss Gracie and Cellars Shiraz in succession, the latter Nov. 3, all over Gulfstream’s Tapeta course. In her lone turf try she ran fourth in the one-mile Honey Rider last May at Gulfstream.
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Sister Otoole ran third in back-to-back Grade 3 stakes going 1 3/8 miles to end 2023, the Waya at Aqueduct and Red Carpet at Del Mar. Placed in three other Grade 3 stakes in 2021 and 2022, the 6-year-old mare has won Del Mar’s CTT & TOC Stakes, also at 11 furlongs on the grass, each of the past two years.
Also among the nominees are 2023 Azalea winner Charlie’s Wish; Chick’s Shadow, second to Time Passage in the Powder Break; Tamarindo and Prettykeen, respectively 1-2 in the Ginger Punch last June on Gulfstream’s Tapeta; and Coco, winner of the Wasted Tears overnight handicap that ran second behind Time Passage in the Cellars Shiraz.
