Gulfport Seeks Smooth Trip in Saratoga's Hopeful
Image:
Description:
Photo: Coady Photography
Gulfport wins the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs
It's not easy to run into trouble in a four-horse field, but the connections of Gulfport will attest how it can happen.
The scene was the Aug. 13 Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) when William and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Jackpot Farm, Whispering Oaks Farm, and Ashford Stud's son of Uncle Mo was about a 2-5 favorite in a field of just four 2-year-olds.
The start of the race was uneventful, with Gulfport and jockey Joel Rosario cruising along in third.
Then, while making a move on the turn, he "jostled" with the eventual winner, Damon's Mound , while racing between horses. Then, shortly thereafter, he checked sharply.
The end result was that Gulfport lost ground and momentum and found himself some 3 1/2 lengths behind Damon's Mound in midstretch and had to settle for second, 3 1/4 lengths behind the winner and seven lengths ahead of the third horse.
"I thought he was a little overconfident and got put in a position that was unnecessary and was unable to overcome it," trainer Steve Asmussen said. "It's amazing to find that much trouble in a four-horse field."
Off that fiasco, Gulfport will get a second chance for a Saratoga Race Course 2-year-old stakes win when Flavien Prat will be aboard Sept. 5 in the seven-furlong $300,000 Hopeful Stakes (G1), the final stakes on the closing day card at the Spa.
"He's an extremely talented colt and we were very disappointed he got beat in the Saratoga Special," Asmussen said, "but the Hopeful offers him the proper stage to prove who he is."
The buzz for Gulfport in the Saratoga Special was understandable given that his 2-for-2 record was capped by an eye-opening 12 1/4-length score at 1-5 odds in the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs. A seven-length debut winner, also at Churchill Downs, he covered the six furlongs of the Bashford Manor in a blistering 1:09.25 after leading throughout.
"He's very talented and any time you get to run a horse that fast, it's exciting," said Asmussen, who is seeking a fourth straight win in the meet-ending grade 1 stakes.
Bred by Diamond Creek Farm out of the Unbridled's Song mare Fame and Fortune, Gulfport was bought for $275,000 by Pick View from the Eaton Sales consignment at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale.
Nasser Bin Omairah's Mo Strike has also generated a considerable amount of excitement in his two starts. After winning at first asking at Churchill Downs on June 19, he shipped into Saratoga and stormed to a 3 1/2-length victory in the July 16 Sanford Stakes (G3) for trainer Brad Cox.
In that debut win, the son of Uncle Mo beat Disarm , who bounced back from a third-place finish to post a 6 1/4-length maiden victory Aug. 6 at the Spa.
Mo Strike was bred by Blue Heaven Farm and Ashford Stud and sold for $325,000 from the Gene Recio consignment at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.
Rodeo Creek Racing's Blazing Sevens also posted a dazzling performance at the Spa, taking his July 24 debut by 6 1/4 lengths for leading trainer Chad Brown. A son of Good Magic , he was bumped at the break in his lone start and raced wide but still managed to win while being eased under the wire.
The sport's living legend, 87-year-old Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, accounted for two of the six entrants with BC Stables' Bourbon Bash and Western Ghent (American Pharoah ), a maiden claimer winner in his fourth start owned by Bob and Ann Ghent and Lukas and his wife, Laurie.
Bourbon Bash, a son of City of Light , is coming off an eight-length score in an Aug. 13 maiden race at the meet, but was a distant second to Blazing Sevens before that.
"I still get excited about a promising, young 2-year-old. When Bourbon Bash won the other day that was a highlight for me," said Lukas, who turned 87 on Sept. 2. "He woke up in that race. That was a pivotal race I think for him. He came around and since has trained really strong. It'll be interesting to see if he can step up in the Hopeful."
Lukas, the Hall of Famer and former holder of the sport's mark for all-time earnings, has won the Hopeful a record eight times. His most recent trip to the winner's circle after the grade 1 stakes came in 2017 with Robert Baker and William Mack's Sporting Chance .
Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte was fourth in the Sanford after recording a 7 3/4-length debut victory at Belmont Park.
"The track was probably a little deep for his liking (in the Sanford). The pace didn't come back much," trainer Todd Pletcher said about the son of Violence . "I think he should appreciate the added distance."
Saratoga Race Course, Monday, September 05, 2022, Race 11Entries: Hopeful S. (G1)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Western Ghent (KY)
Luis Saez
120
D. Wayne Lukas
30/1
2
2Forte (KY)
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
120
Todd A. Pletcher
3/1
3
3Bourbon Bash (KY)
Tyler Gaffalione
120
D. Wayne Lukas
6/1
4
4Gulfport (KY)
Flavien Prat
122
Steven M. Asmussen
9/5
5
5Mo Strike (KY)
Florent Geroux
122
Brad H. Cox
5/2
6
6Blazing Sevens (KY)
Manuel Franco
120
Chad C. Brown
4/1
