Flying Fortress, Good American Invade for Via Borghese

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Flying Fortress, Good American Invade for Via Borghese
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Photo: Coady Photography
Flying Fortress wins an allowance optional claimer at Colonial Downs

Stablemates Flying Fortress , exiting her first graded stakes attempt, and Good American , racing in the U.S. for the first time, will line up against each other and six rivals in the $100,000 Via Borghese Stakes Dec. 17 at Gulfstream Park.

The seventh running of the 1 3/8-mile Via Borghese for fillies and mares 3 and up is one of two stakes over Gulfstream's new turf course on the 11-race program, followed by the $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens Handicap for 3-year-olds and up going two miles. An overflow field has been drawn for that race.

Joseph Allen homebred Flying Fortress and Andrew Rosen's Good American represent the first starters at Gulfstream for Reeve McGaughey, the son of Hall of Fame horseman Shug McGaughey.

McGaughey is overseeing a string at Gulfstream for his father, who is serving a 15-day suspension for a medication violation for acepromazine and is scheduled to return Dec. 19.

Flying Fortress dueled on the front end with Beside Herself  in the 1 1/2-mile Rood and Riddle Dowager Stakes (G3T) Oct. 23 at Keeneland before finishing fifth, three spots and more than three lengths ahead of Todd Pletcher-trained Beside Herself, who also returns in the Via Borghese.

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"We all thought she ran pretty well given the circumstances of the race. She got hooked up early with Todd's filly, and they just battled each other really into submission," McGaughey said. "But she did well to hold on and only get beat as little amount as she did. This go around we're hoping to get her to relax and rate so, hopefully, if somebody wants to go she can just sit right off of them."

Flying Fortress, by Uncle Mo  , was a neck shy of being unbeaten in her other three starts this year that included allowance wins at Laurel Park in April and Colonial Downs in August.

"She had a couple good races at Colonial and she's steadily improved all year long. We expect her to run well," McGaughey said. "I think she'll appreciate the distance if she can kind of avoid what happened last time. I don't think the distance will be an issue, as long as the first part of the race is reasonable."

A daughter of American Pharoah  , Good American has raced six times in her native England, her lone win coming in her September 2021 debut. In her most recent start, she was second, beaten a half-length, in a 1 3/8-mile stakes over the all-weather surface at Kempton Oct. 31.

"She hasn't been here long. She came into Gulfstream a couple weeks ago and she's trained well since she's been here, so I figured we'd go ahead and run her right off the plane, basically. We'll figure out what to do next once she runs Saturday," McGaughey said. "It just seemed like a good opportunity for her. Distance wouldn't be an issue, I wouldn't think."

Junior Alvarado will be aboard Flying Fortress from Post 4, while Tyler Gaffalione gets the call on Good American from outermost post 8.

Beside Herself - ALW, Keeneland, April 28, 2022
Photo: Keeneland/Coady Photography
Beside Herself takes an allowance race at Keeneland

Michael Tabor's Beside Herself , raced three times at Gulfstream last winter, breaking his maiden at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 30 and finishing sixth in the one-mile Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) March 5. She has won two of six subsequent starts and was third in the 1 1/8-mile Regret Stakes (G3T) June 4.

Another Mystery Bred for Distance of H. Allen Jerkens  

Team Block's Another Mystery , a multiple-stakes winner of eight of 31 starts, leads the Jerkens field for trainer James Gulick.

Trainer Keri Brion will be represented by two horses in the overdrawn field—Molly Willis, Paul Willis, and CFC Stables' Agitare  and Upland Flats Racing's Pleasecallmeback .

Other contenders include Ready for the Lady , Time for Trouble , Value Engineering , and Wicked Fast .


Entries: Via Borghese S.

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, December 17, 2022, Race 6

  • STK
  • 1 3/8m
  • Turf
  • $100,000
  • 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
  • 2:39 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Beside Herself (KY) Luis Saez 118 Todd A. Pletcher 2/1
2 2Champagne Ivy (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jose E. Morelos 121 Jeremiah O'Dwyer 20/1
3 3Treasure of War (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Julien R. Leparoux 118 Cherie DeVaux 15/1
4 4Flying Fortress (KY) Junior Alvarado 121 J. Reeve McGaughey 7/2
5 5Starship Mallomar (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 121 Jack Abrams 8/1
6 6Lisheen (MD)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jorge Ruiz 121 H. Graham Motion 4/1
7 7Viburnum (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 121 Kelsey Danner 5/1
8 8Good American (GB) Tyler Gaffalione 118 J. Reeve McGaughey 8/1


Entries: H. Allen Jerkens H.

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, December 17, 2022, Race 9

  • STK
  • 2m
  • Turf
  • $100,000
  • 3 yo's & up
  • 4:11 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Pleasecallmeback (ON)Keeneland Sales Graduate Angel Suarez 119 Keri Brion 15/1
2 2Oceans Map (KY) Emisael Jaramillo 121 Gregory D. Sacco 12/1
3 3Another Mystery (IL) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 126 James M. Gulick 4/1
4 4Sole Volante (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Sonny Leon 119 Patrick L. Biancone 20/1
5 5Ready for the Lady (KY) Paco Lopez 116 Roger L. Attfield 20/1
6 6Reigning Spirit (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Tyler Gaffalione 122 Brian A. Lynch 15/1
7 7Wicked Fast (KY) Miguel Angel Vasquez 115 Michael J. Maker 15/1
8 8Time for Trouble (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Edwin Gonzalez 119 Jeff A. Hiles 8/1
9 9Kinenos (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Luis Saez 120 Michael J. Maker 9/2
10 10Value Engineering (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jose L. Ortiz 120 Michael J. Maker 7/2
11 11Barberini (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jorge Ruiz 114 Arnaud Delacour 8/1
12 12Agitare (IRE) Julien R. Leparoux 123 Keri Brion 8/1
13 13Basso (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Junior Alvarado 117 Gregory D. Sacco 12/1
14 14Six Minus (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Irad Ortiz, Jr. 115 Todd A. Pletcher 10/1