Friday's Islamorada Could Impact Triple Crown

Although the $60,000 Islamorada Handicap Friday, March 6, at Gulfstream Park is not a graded stakes, it could feature some eventual Triple Crown horses, including Stanford and Materiality from the well-stocked barn of Todd Pletcher.



"I think that's what we're trying to determine in this race, and this race will help decide what their immediate futures are," Pletcher said of the possible classic aspirations for the two 3-year-olds. "If they were to both to run well in here, then it could lead them into one of the major preps next time, but if not, then we'll probably step back and go a little softer route."



At 1 1/8 miles, the Islamorada is slated as the third race on Friday's 11-race program, with a first post time of 1 p.m.



Stanford, a son of Malibu Moon  , enters the Friday race off an impressive allowance score at Gulfstream on Feb. 8 in his first start since finishing sixth in the Saratoga Special (gr. II) last August. Owned by Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith, and Stonestreet Stables, Stanford posted a 1 1/2-length victory over stablemate Blame Jim in his sophomore debut.



Stanford has been assigned highweight of 121 pounds, conceding three to six pounds to his five rivals and has been installed the 7-5 morning-line favorite.



Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, Stanford was purchased by Pletcher for $550,000 from the Kings Equine consignment to the 2014 Barretts March sale of 2-year-olds in training. The colt had previously been acquired by Dona Licha Stables for $120,000 when consigned by Lane's End to the 2013 Keeneland September yearling sale.



Materiality will be making his second career start following a 4 1/4-length romp in the slop Jan. 11 in a maiden special weight at Gulfstream. The son of Afleet Alex   bred in Kentucky by John D. Gunther races for Alto Racing.



Materiality also was a 2013 Keeneland September graduate, having been purchased by Venture Six for $260,000 from the Glennwood Farm draft to the sale. He was subsequently re-sold to agent Steven W. Young for $400,000 when consigned by De Meric Sales to the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale.



Stanford turned in bullet four-furlong breeze at Palm Meadows Downs on Feb. 21, clocking in at :47.62, the fastest of 20 workers that morning. Materiality posted a bullet of his own at the training facility the following day, breezing five furlongs in 1:00.19.



"They've both trained well," Pletcher said. "In a perfect world, we'd have found an intermediate step between their last races and a mile and an eighth, but this is sort of the only option we had, and we felt like, timing-wise, it was good for both of them. Hopefully, if they perform well, it could lead them into bigger races in their next starts."



Although neither Stanford nor Materiality has raced beyond 6 1/2 furlongs, Pletcher said the distance is not a concern.

"The distance itself isn't such a concern," Pletcher said. "It's just a little concerning from the standpoint that they've only had one six-furlong race this year, and Materiality has only had one six-furlong race in his entire career, but historically, those kind of moves of stretching out off one short race has worked out pretty well for us, so hopefully that will be the case here."



Another Triple Crown nominee in the field is R. A. Hill Stable's High Noon Rider, a son of Distorted Humor   who was pulled up approaching the stretch in Gulfstream's Lambholm South Holy Bull (gr. II) Jan. 24.



Trainer George Weaver has no explanation for the Holy Bull, but said the colt, purchased by SVG Thoroughbreds for $400,000 from Lane's End at the 2013 Keeneland September sale, was doing well.



"He's been doing fine," trainer George Weaver said. "We really don't know why he got pulled up. We don't fault (jockey) Joel (Rosario). Obviously, he felt something. But he's been training well, so we'll give it another shot."



High Noon Rider began his career on turf, but his first victory came when his scheduled start was taken off the grass and run over a fast main track at Aqueduct Racetrack last November in his third start. The result was a game head victory, which was followed by a third-place finish in the Remington Springboard Mile.



"The first time we ran him on the dirt, it was an off-the-turf event, and his biggest race to date," Weaver said. "So we thought, 'Well, it's nice to see what he can do on the dirt,' so we ran him over at Remington, and he ran well, and we were looking forward to the Holy Bull, but things just didn't work out. He's trained well and handled the dirt well. I thought this spot looked like something that wouldn't be quite as demanding as the Holy Bull and will let us gauge where we are with him.



"If he were to win or run a big speed figure and finish second, if he runs a quality race in there (the Islamorada) we would definitely think about the (Besilu Stables) Florida Derby (gr. I, March 28) and other prep races," he said.