Cugino winning Churchill Downs’ Audubon. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Cugino could be key in Derby, unbeaten Random Harvest in Oaks
$1,200 Average Payout, 15-percent takeout
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gulfstream Park’s popular Tropical Turf Pick 3, with a low 15 percent takeout and average payout of $1,200, will be highlighted Saturday with a dozen 3-year-olds in the $140,000 Tropical Park Derby and a dozen 3-year-old fillies in the $140,000 Tropical Park Oaks.
The two 1 1/16-mile events, along with a $35,000 maiden claiming event at the same distance for 3-year-olds featuring another full field, is an intriguing Pick 3 that begins with Race 5 at approximately 2:19 ET and concludes with the Derby at approximately 5:21 ET.
Gulfstream’s Brian Nadeau and Samantha Perry handicap the Tropical Turf Pick 3
Gulfstream’s Ron Nicoletti’s longshot in the Tropical Park Oaks
Race 5: Maiden claiming, $35,000, 1 1/16-mile turf
Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown, Danny Gargan, Brian Lynch, Mark Casse and Mark Hennig are all represented here and Pletcher saddles the favorite in Patronage who draws the rail and Irad Ortiz Jr. The gelded son of Kantharos has a second and two fifth-place finishes racing against restricted company in New York and has never been beaten more than 3 ½ lengths despite some outside draws. Take Your Seats hasn’t hit the board in three turf tries for Brown and is a beaten favorite in his last two. Brown is 33 percent going maiden special weight to maiden claimer. John the Baptist finished second across the Saratoga turf in a $40,000 maiden claimer, but was no factor in his last two starts against better. The Hennig-trained son of More Than Ready is a first-time gelding. Casse’s Operatnthunderbolt tries the turf after three tries on Tapeta.
Race 8: $140,000 Tropical Park Oaks, 1 1/16-mile turf
Lots of possibilities with a tepid 7-2, morning-line favorite in See You Around, whose North American debut produced a sixth-place finish in the Pebbles (G3) in November at Aqueduct. Trained by Christophe Clement, See You Around raced two seasons in France, winning a stake but was unable to do much in the French 1000 Guineas (G1). Life’s an Audible makes her first start since March for Pletcher. The filly won the Sweetest Chant (G3) and was second in the Herecomesthebride (G3) over this course over the winter. Vive Veuve has two wins and a second over this course in three starts, including a victory in the Sanibel Island last winter. Random Harvest, an unbeaten daughter of Uncle Mo trained by Jimmy Toner, broke her maiden at Kentucky Downs in September and followed with an allowance victory at Keeneland.
Race 11: $140,000 Tropical Park Derby, 1 1/16-mile turf
Cugino, 9-5 on the morning line, enters off a second-place finish Nov. 9 in the Hill Prince (G3). The Pletcher-trainee, second in the Transylvania (G3) and Colonel Liam, gets the services of Ortiz Jr. Silent Heart (7-2), has two wins in three starts over the course, including last time out in the Showing Up, for trainer Lynch. Can Group, winner of the 2023 Bourbon (G2) and fourth in the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1), goes out first time as a gelding for Casse. John Velazquez rides. Palm Tree, trained by Brendan Walsh and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, could be closing fastest of all.
