Tidal Forces captures a starter optional claimer Feb. 25 at Gulfstream Park (Coglianese)
NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y.— Owner/trainer Fernando Abreu will ship the recently stakes-placed Tidal Forces to New York for next Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Danger’s Hour, a one-mile turf test for older horses, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The 6-year-old Malibu Moon gelding was a last-out third beaten a neck by graded stakes-winner Smokin’ T in the one-mile Appleton on March 30 over the Gulfstream Park turf. He was bumped at the start and raced 2 1/2-lengths off the pace in the early stages before taking the lead at the stretch call, nearly hanging on to win at odds of 60-1.
Tidal Forces, claimed for $10,000 out of a win traveling 1 1/16-miles over the Gulfstream Tapeta two back, won his first start for Abreu in a February starter optional claimer at the Florida oval, besting third-place Fly the W, who won eight races in 2023 and is 16-for-37 lifetime.
“I claimed him and it was a big shake for him. It was a 14-way shake. When I claimed him, I never thought he was a stakes horse. But then I ran him in the starter and he beat the old timer Fly the W that’s been beating everybody in Florida,” said Abreu. “He ran a huge race in the Appleton. I’m hoping to transfer that over.”
Abreu said he had the confidence to try stakes company after the 1 1/4-length starter optional claiming score, which earned a career-best 93 Beyer Speed Figure, which he equaled in the Appleton.
“The good thing is that he’s owned by me, so I don’t have to worry about explaining to my owner why he was 60-1 and I had him in there,” said Abreu. “I took a shot because he could’ve been in a 2-other-than, but the horse, I have no issue with him. Maybe I keep him sharp, but he’s an old pro who does whatever you ask him to do.”
Bred in Ontario by Sam-Son Farm, Tidal Forces, out of the Dynaformer-mare Ain’t No Tellin’, seeks his first stakes victory after off-the-board efforts in Woodbine Racetrack’s Grade 3 Marine and Queen’s Plate in addition to Fort Erie Race Track’s Prince of Wales, all in 2021.
Tidal Forces boasts a record of 18-6-0-3 with $192,753 in earnings.
