Willow Case will face off with Tessellate after upset in last meeting. (Lauren King)
One-Mile Stakes for 2YO Fillies Headlines Friday Program
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Willow Case, who sprung a 27-1 upset in her stakes debut last month, and pricey filly Tessellate, the beaten favorite that day, are set to face off again in Friday’s $75,000 Hallandale Beach at Gulfstream Park.
The Hallandale Beach for 2-year-old fillies going a one-turn mile on the main track, named for the city that Gulfstream has called home since it opened in 1939, is the headliner as the Sunshine Meet resumes with a nine-race program. Post time is 12:50 p.m.
Amanda Hernandez’s Willow Case, bred in Florida by Sherry Mansfield and Ken Davis, is a bay daughter of Neolithic, a multimillionaire that never won a graded-stakes but placed five times including a third in Gulfstream’s inaugural 2017 Pegasus World Cup (G1).
Willow Case went off a 30-1 longshot when she ran a distant fourth behind subsequent Grade 3 winner Mythical in debut April 17, returning two weeks later to graduate by a neck at 14-1 odds going the same 4 ½-furlong distance. She went unraced until Aug. 9 when she was stretched out to six furlongs in the Sharp Susan.
“She’s a very talented filly, with a good mind, and very professional. She’s very healthy,” trainer Ramon Minguet said. “She hasn’t run much because we’ve been waiting for the best races for her. I think she’ll perform much better with more distance. She can run at speed without any problem.”
In the Sharp Susan, Willow Case tracked the early leaders racing fourth, less than three lengths from the front, before forging a short lead after a half-mile and going on to win by 3 ¼ expanding lengths in 1:11.51 over the sealed, sloppy surface. She has since had one work at the Equels Training Center in Ocala, breezing a half-mile in 51 seconds Sept. 19.
“I’ve always thought highly of her,” Minguet said. “The last race I was surprised by how much she liked the sloppy track. If it rains tomorrow, she’ll like it.”
Leonel Reyes, up for each of her two wins, gets the return call on Willow Case from Post 5 of six at topweight of 122 pounds. They are rated third choice on the morning line at 5-2.
Magic Cap Stables, Paul Braverman, Timothy Pinch, Castle Gate Farm, Kuehne Racing and John Reinhardt’s Tessellate fetched $170,000 as a yearling last fall and was a popular front-running two-length winner of her unveiling against fellow Florida-breds sprinting five furlongs July 19. Bred by Castle Gate, Tessellate wheeled back in 22 days for the Sharp Susan.
“The filly had shown ability going into her debut, so we were hopeful of a good showing, but with the babies you are never sure until they run,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “It was rewarding seeing her run well first out and duplicating a similar effort back second time on a fairly short turnaround. Now she has a better spacing, timing-wise. The only unknown question is the distance and, hopefully, she will answer that for us in a decisive way.”
Tessellate broke running in the Sharp Susan but soon dropped back to fifth before making a late run on the outside to get up for second, a nose ahead of Dakota’s Lil Auror, who also returns in the Hallandale Beach. Despite the outcome, Joseph was encouraged by the effort from the daughter of four-time Grade 1 winner and 2019 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) runner-up McKinzie.
“I was happy she showed some determination to go through traffic. First time out she was just on the lead, so she didn’t learn much in that sense. Last time she showed she doesn’t need the lead,” he said. “[She] didn’t get the trip we wanted. She lost position before coming on again. She stretches out now. Distance will be a question she will have to answer.”
Edgard Zayas gets the riding assignment for the first time from Post 3 at 120 pounds as the 2-1 second program choice.
In addition to Dakota’s Lil Auror (Post 2, 4-1), trainer Herbert Miller will also send out Ratasha Miller’s Triple Threat (Post 1, 20-1), the most experienced horse in the field with five prior starts that exits a gate-to-wire maiden claiming triumph going six furlongs Aug. 29. It was her first time on dirt after previous tries on turf and the all-weather Tapeta course.
Also entered are Vita Mia (Post 6, 9-5), a winner at the course and distance Sept. 6 in her third start; and maiden That Police (Post 4, 20-1), second by a half-length in a two-turn Tapeta trip Aug. 31 who cuts back, switches surfaces and adds blinkers for the first time.
