1 1/16-Mile Stakes for 3-Year-Olds Attracts 23 Nominations
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Grade 3-placed Attachment Rate, undefeated Money Moves and stakes winner Soros are among 23 horses nominated to the $75,000 Unbridled Stakes Saturday, April 25 at Gulfstream Park.
The 1 1/16-mile Unbridled for 3-year-olds, named for the 1990 Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner, kicks off Gulfstream’s stakes schedule during the spring-summer meet, which opened April 2.
Jim Bakke and Gerry Isbister’s Attachment Rate broke his maiden going one mile over a sloppy, sealed track Feb. 15 at Gulfstream, his third career start. Trainer Dale Romans shipped the Hard Spun colt to Aqueduct for the Gotham (G3), also at a mile, where he chased the leaders and settled for third, beaten two lengths by Mischevious Alex, in his stakes debut.
Robert LaPenta and Bortolazzo Stable’s Money Moves, a bay son of Candy Ride, has been perfect in two starts for 2019-2020 Championship Meet-leading trainer Todd Pletcher. Money Moves was a 1 ¼-length winner of his career bow going six furlongs Feb. 15, then emerged from a front-end duel in his return for a 2 ¾-length score in a one-mile allowance March 27 – both over Gulfstream’s main track.
Money Moves is joined on the nominee list by five Pletcher-trained stablemates led by Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) runner-up Candy Tycoon, most recently sixth in the Curlin Florida Derby March 28. Dr Post, I’ll Fight Dempsey, Silver Ratio and Liam’s Point were all maiden winners during Gulfstream’s Championship Meet.
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and OGMA Investments Soros captured the one-mile Smooth Air by 2 ½ lengths Nov. 30 at Gulfstream to cap his juvenile season after running second in his debut during Gulfstream Park West’s Fall Turf Festival meet. In his lone start at 3, the son of multiple graded-stakes winner Commissioner was fifth behind Money Moves in the March 27 allowance.
Trainer Mark Hennig is represented by a pair of Courtlandt Farms colts in Americanus and Sonneman. Americanus is coming off a one-length allowance triumph Feb. 22 at Gulfstream and has been first or second in three of his four starts. Sonneman has won two straight, returning from a six-month layoff to capture his sophomore debut April 4 at Gulfstream.
Also with a pair of nominees is trainer Stanley Hough, in Necker Island and South Bend. Along with Sagamore Farm, Hough co-owns Necker Island, who ended his 2-year-old season with back-to-back wins in Kentucky but has been fifth in a pair of graded attempts in 2020 – the seven-furlong Swale (G3) Feb. 1 at Gulfstream and the Gotham.
Sagamore’s South Bend has made his last three starts over the Gulfstream turf, finishing third in the 1 1 1/6-mile Palm Beach (G3), beaten 1 ½ lengths, and second in the Cutler Bay and third in the Dania Beach, both at one mile, by less than two lengths combined. He owns three wins in five tries on dirt, all to open his career, including the 2019 Street Sense Stakes.
Also among the nominees are Gulfstream Feb. 1 debut winner Edge of Fire, second to Money Moves March 27; Extraordinary, a 6 ¼-length maiden graduate going one mile March 14 at Gulfstream; Our Country, Grade 3-placed on turf last fall; 2019 Louisiana Legacy Stakes winner Relentless Dancer, fourth in the Holy Bull (G3) and Tampa Bay Derby (G2) in his two 2020 starts; and Sole Volante, winner of the Sam F. Davis (G3) Feb. 8 who was second last out as the favorite in the Tampa Bay Derby behind 49-1 long shot King Guillermo.
Trained by Carl Nafzger and ridden by Craig Perret, both Hall of Famers, Frances Genter’s Unbridled compiled eight wins, six seconds, six thirds and nearly $4.5 million in purse earnings from 23 starts between 1989 and 1991. He won the Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) and was second in the Preakness (G1) during his 1990 3-year-old championship season.
Gulfstream Park Press Release