Lure Him In prevails in the Sunshine Classic (Coglianese)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.— Double B Racing Stable’s Lure Him In battled with favored pacesetter Octane the length of the stretch before sticking his neck out on the wire to spring a 7-1 upset in Saturday’s $75,000 Sunshine Classic at Gulfstream Park.
Ridden by Edwin Gonzalez for trainer Herman Wilensky, Lure Him In ($16.20) covered 1 1/16 miles over a fast main track in 1:43.22 to earn his second career stakes victory following the 2022 Sunshine Turf for previous connections.
Octane, sent off at 1-2 in a field of seven Florida-breds, broke alertly from his rail post and established command right away, leading through a quarter-mile in 23.61 seconds and a half in 47.70, while Lure Him In settled in sixth before making a bold move on the far outside around the turn to get into contention. After hooking up at the top of the stretch, Octane forged a short lead passing the eighth pole before Lure Him In surged again and was able to edge clear in the final jump. The Skipper Too was third.
“We thought we would be sitting closer early. [Octane] came out sending early and we didn’t break as good as we thought we would,” Wilensky’s son and assistant, Sam Wilensky, said. “We ran the longest races. We were four and five wide on the turn and still had enough to horse left to win the race.”
Lure Him In has been running on turf or synthetics when he was claimed for $40,000 in September at Del Mar. Immediately put back on the dirt, he captured a one-mile optional claimer Nov. 25 at Gulfstream and got caught wide when ninth in the 1 1/16-mile Harlan’s Holiday (G3) Dec. 30.
“It looked a little rough at first. We claimed him for $40,000 and he ran second to last that day,” Wilensky said. “In our eyes he’s not necessarily a turf horse. He runs on anything. The turf may not be his thing, especially out there at Del Mar. It was nice to get him back on the dirt here and not run 11-wide like we did in the Harlan’s Holiday.”
