Xy Speed. (Ryan Thompson)
$95,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint, First of Four Stakes Worth $510,000 on 11-Race Card Saturday
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Clear Stars Stable’s multiple stakes winner Xy Speed, the aptly named gelding still going strong at the age of 8, returns to South Florida seeking a fourth consecutive victory over his home track in Saturday’s $95,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint at Gulfstream Park.
The five-furlong Umphrey Turf Sprint for 3-year-olds and up is the first of four stakes worth $510,000 in purses on an 11-race program headlined by the $220,000 Princess Rooney Invitational (G3), a ‘Win and You’re In’ qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
Based at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, Xy Speed is the most accomplished of eight horses entered in the Umphrey Turf Sprint owning 13 wins and $461,316 in purse earnings from 38 lifetime starts. He has been third or better in 11 of 13 tries on the Gulfstream turf with six wins, registering three straight in the spring including the April 27 Sunny Island and May 25 Pay Any Price handicaps, all at five furlongs.
“The horse is doing excellent. He’s in top form, and the only thing that’s going to stand in his way this weekend is the weather,” trainer Michael Lerman said. “He’s back in familiar territory and if the weather cooperates, he would be pretty tough to beat, I would say.”
Xy Speed had his overall win streak snapped in the 5 ½-furlong Select Aug. 17 at Monmouth Park, his first start since the Pay Any Price following a trip to Saratoga where he was entered in the Troy (G2), which rain pushed back a week to Aug. 10 and then forced it to be moved off the grass, causing him to be scratched.
“We ended up running him at Monmouth last time as a backup and it monsooned there. Even though it says firm in the form it was a boggy, soft turf course and that’s what doomed him and got him beat,” Lerman said.
Still, Xy Speed was in front early and dug in along the inside to finish fourth, beaten only a length with the top three finishers separated by a nose and a head.
“That’s a tribute to how good he was doing,” Lerman said. “I’m glad he’s home. He likes it here.”
Xy Speed was fifth in last year’s Umphrey, which was contested over July 4th weekend on Gulfstream’s all-weather Tapeta course. Lerman ran him just twice more in 2023 and twice over the winter during the Championship Meet as he continues to be judicious in looking for races.
“You need to be. That’s how they get to be this age and still successful,” he said. “He just had some minor nagging issues before I got him that I was able to identify and alleviate and he responded accordingly like the true professional that he is.”
Last claimed for $32,000 by now-retired trainer Richard Schosberg Aug. 31, 2022, at Saratoga, Xy Speed has been with Lerman for the past two seasons collecting four wins, two seconds, two thirds and nearly $177,000 in purses from 12 starts.
“Personally, I love older back-class horses. They’re like veteran ballplayers,” Lerman said. “They’re capable of giving you their ‘A’ game when they feel up to it and you can count on them, where young horses or maidens are still finding their way a lot of times.”
Edwin Gonzalez, up for each of his last three wins, gets the return call from Post 5 on Xy Speed at co-topweight of 124 pounds.
“I think he’s in his best form, and I don’t think he’s done yet, either. I don’t think he’s hit the top of the curve yet,” Lerman said. “He needs things to go his way, which is to run on a rock-hard turf course. Hopefully the weather cooperates, but we’ll see.”
Oh Darlin, owned and trained by Happy Alter, comes into the Umphrey having won two of his last three starts this summer, each on the all-weather surface. The 4-year-old Uncaptured filly is winless with one third in four tries on turf, all at Gulfstream.
Lawson Racing Stables’ High Limit Room will be racing first off a $25,000 claim by trainer Rohan Crichton out of a front-running 1 ½-length victory at the course and distance July 20. The 6-year-old gelding is a seven-time career winner including the five-furlong Grand Prairie Turf Sprint in 2022 at Lone Star.
Glen Hill Farm homebred Wide West won the Roar sprinting five furlongs over the Gulfstream turf last spring and enters the Umphrey having finished third by a length after setting the pace in the five-furlong Lady Carey Turf Sprint July 28 at Hawthorne.
Reef Runner, second in Gulfstream’s May 18 Roar; eight-time winner Hope in Him, eighth in last year’s Umphrey; 2020 Hollywood Beach winner Omaha City and Takecareofbusiness round out the field.
