Restless Rider to Make 2020 Debut in Royal Delta Stakes

Grade 1 winner Restless Rider, who has not raced since an off-the-board finish in last year's Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs, is scheduled to make her 4-year-old debut Feb. 15 in the $150,000 Royal Delta Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

Three Chimneys Farm and Fern Circle Stables' Restless Rider showed talent from the start, posting a 2 1/2-length victory in the 2018 Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) at Keeneland before finishing second to Jaywalk in the Tito's Handmade Vodka Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Churchill. The daughter of Distorted Humor  nearly scored another top-level win in her abbreviated 3-year-old season last year at Keeneland when she finished a neck behind winner Out for a Spin in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1). She followed with a 12th-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks.

After time off, trainer Ken McPeek said Restless Rider developed a quarter crack in the fall that forced her to miss more racing. She's worked seven times since Dec. 19 at Gulfstream.

"We brought her down to Gulfstream early on. She's thrived there," McPeek said. "She's done very well there."

McPeek believes Restless Rider is capable of a big season if she moves forward.

"She's a top filly—complete class to be around. We're hoping she transfers that to her 4-year-old year. We gave her plenty of time to fill out to do that," McPeek said. "I think we're all set to have a really good season with her. I'd like to think in the fall we can have her on a Breeders' Cup campaign."

Video: Darley Alcibiades S. (G1)

Awaiting Restless Rider in the 1 1/16-mile Royal Delta for older fillies and mares is grade 2 winner Coach Rocks, who will make her first start for trainer Todd Pletcher and owner WinStar Stablemates Racing. In 2018, Coach Rocks won the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) at the Royal Delta distance for her previous owners—Roddy Valente, RAP Racing, and West Point Thoroughbreds—and trainer Dale Romans.

"She's a very classy filly. She's trained very steadily for this," Pletcher said. "Hopefully, she'll run as well for us as she did for Dale."

Rounding out the expected field of six is Queen Nekia, who boasts a pair of allowance-level wins at the meet; Tweeting, who opened the year with a runner-up finish in the Jan. 18 Wayward Lass Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs; Golden Award, who closed 2019 with grade 3 wins in two of her final three starts; and Cookie Dough, who set the pace in the Dec. 14 Rampart Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream before settling for second.

Entries: Royal Delta S. (G3)

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, February 15, 2020, Race 11

• Grade III
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $150,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 5:04 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Queen Nekia (FL)	John R. Velazquez	120	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	10/1
2	2Coach Rocks (KY)	Luis Saez	120	Todd A. Pletcher	9/2
3	3Tweeting (KY)	Victor Lebron	118	Elizabeth L. Dobles	15/1
4	4Restless Rider (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	118	Kenneth G. McPeek	2/1
5	5Golden Award (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	124	William I. Mott	9/5
6	6Cookie Dough (FL)	Paco Lopez	118	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	7/2