McGaughey Doubles Up In Gulfstream's Tropical Park Oaks

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey has two chances in the Dec. 26 $100,000 Tropical Park Oaks at Gulfstream Park to get off to a fast start for the 2022-23 Championship Meet on the opening day program.

McGaughey is scheduled to send out a pair of highly promising homebred fillies in Joseph Allen's Personal Best  and Phipps Stable's Surprisingly , in the 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf that will co-headline a 10-race program with the $100,000 Tropical Park Derby, a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for 3-year-olds.

Personal Best ran the best race of her seven-race career in her most recent start in a 1 3/8-mile allowance on the turf at Aqueduct Racetrack where she stalked the pace before drawing clear by 4 3/4 lengths.   

"Her last few races have been really good, the last one especially. She's a filly we've always been pretty high on," said McGaughey, who will also saddle Fort Washington  for a start in the Tropical Park Derby. "A mile and a sixteenth may not be her best gig, but I like her a lot. I think, throughout the year, she'll be a very useful horse."

The daughter of Tapit   will be making her stakes debut in the Tropical Park Oaks with Irad Ortiz Jr. in the irons.

Surprisingly, a daughter of Mastery  , won her first two starts of 2022, impressively drawing away to victory at Horseshoe Indianapolis in June and Ellis Park a month later. She was compromised by early traffic before finishing seventh in the Virginia Oaks at Colonial Downs in her most recent start Sept. 6. 

"She ran a good race in Virginia coming off a couple allowance races and wasn't beat that far. We've trained her here for a good while, and she's been doing really, really well," McGaughey said. "I thought it was worth taking a chance (in the Tropical Park Oaks)—her last chance running against 3-year-olds."

Edgard Zayas has the call on Surprisingly, who break from post 7.

Michael Nentwig, Michael Dubb, Beast Mode Racing, John Rochfort, and trainer Robert Falcone Jr.'s Spirit And Glory , who rallied from last to win the Virginia Oaks, will be awaiting Surprisingly in the Tropical Park Oaks. The Irish-bred daughter of Cotai Glory  finished fifth in the Sands Point Stakes (G2T) and fourth in the Winter Memories Stakes at Aqueduct in her two subsequent starts.

Isaac Castillo is scheduled to ride Spirit And Glory for the first time Monday.

Entries: Tropical Park Oaks

Gulfstream Park, Monday, December 26, 2022, Race 5

• STK
• 1 1/16m
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 2:11 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Jumeirah (KY)	Marcos Meneses	118	Jose R. Rojas	20/1
2	2Frosted Oats (FL)	Junior Alvarado	118	William I. Mott	8/1
3	3Omixochitl (KY)	Leonel Reyes	123	Fausto Gutierrez	6/1
4	4Gunesh (KY)	Edgar Perez	118	Murat Sancal	20/1
5	5Spirit And Glory (IRE)	Isaac Castillo	123	Robert N. Falcone, Jr.	9/2
6	6Candy Light (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	120	H. Graham Motion	4/1
7	7Surprisingly (KY)	Edgard J. Zayas	120	Claude R. McGaughey III	5/1
8	8My Philly Twirl (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	123	Brendan P. Walsh	12/1
9	9Diamond Wow (KY)	Chantal Sutherland	118	Patrick L. Biancone	20/1
10	10Personal Best (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	120	Claude R. McGaughey III	3/1

Axthelm Returns for Gulfstream Park's Opening Day Tropical Park Derby

Edward Seltzer and Beverly Anderson's Axthelm , who debuted at Gulfstream before making his next three starts in Kentucky, has returned to the South Florida racetrack for opening day Dec 26.

The 3-year-old homebred son of Into Mischief   is scheduled to face 11 other 3-year-olds in the $100,000 Tropical Park Derby, a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes.

Axthelm's July 17 debut in a maiden special weight race at five furlongs on Gulfstream's Tapeta track didn't go as trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. had expected.

"He's shown ability from the beginning. Obviously, he has a good pedigree," Joseph said, noting his multiple leading sire Into Mischief. "First time out, we thought he would win. We were a little surprised he didn't. It was probably a little shorter than he wants to go, but it was a good spot to start him out."

The five-furlong race on Tapeta certainly set him up perfectly for his return to action at Kentucky Downs six weeks later. The Kentucky-bred colt graduated by a head over Chad Brown-trained favorite Growth Capital  while running a mile on turf in a $157,000 maiden race.

Axthelm made two more starts at Keeneland, finishing third in both races at a mile on turf. In his most recent start in the Bryan Station Stakes (G3T), he made a serious challenge for the lead at the top of the stretch before settling for third, beaten by less than a length by victorious Balnikhov . Todd Pletcher-trained runner-up Wit , went on to finish a close third in the Hollywood Derby (G1T) at Del Mar.

"I thought he ran OK in his first race, but I thought he showed a much better performance in that stakes when he had a few weeks to acclimatize there," Joseph said. "He was bottled up for most of the race. He never really got out, but for a horse who was making only his fourth start facing those quality horses, I thought he showed a lot of grit.

"We discussed and put our heads together and decided to go straight to the Tropical Park Derby—give him a little freshening and start him back up for this race," he continued. "Everything seems to have gone on target. He's always been a good work horse. I think he's coming into the race really well."

Edgard Zayas, who was aboard Axthelm for his first three starts, has the return mount Monday.

Peter Brant and Joseph Allen's Fort Washington, who finished seventh, beaten by just 2 1/2 lengths by Balnikhov following an extremely slow start, will also return in the Tropical Park Derby. The son of War Front  , who captured the Tale of the Cat Stakes at Monmouth Park in June, will be equipped with blinkers for the first time.

Fort Washington will be ridden for the first time by Jose Ortiz.

Entries: Tropical Park Derby

Gulfstream Park, Monday, December 26, 2022, Race 8

• STK
• 1 1/16m
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo
• 3:42 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Red Danger (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	122	Brian A. Lynch	20/1
2	2Grand Sonata (KY)	Javier Castellano	124	Todd A. Pletcher	7/2
3	3Golden Glider (KY)	Jose E. Morelos	120	Mark E. Casse	20/1
4	4Dakota Gold (NY)	Isaac Castillo	124	Danny Gargan	8/1
5	5Stolen Base (KY)	Edgar Perez	124	Michael J. Maker	20/1
6	6Axthelm (KY)	Edgard J. Zayas	118	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	5/1
7	7Fort Washington (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	124	Claude R. McGaughey III	15/1
8	8Steady On (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	120	Todd A. Pletcher	3/1
9	9Grand David (KY)	Emisael Jaramillo	124	Victor Barboza, Jr.	15/1
10	10Night Jumper (FL)	Edwin Gonzalez	124	J. Kent Sweezey	15/1
11	11Venezuelan Triumph (FL)	Leonel Reyes	120	Victor Barboza, Jr.	15/1
12	12Churchtown (KY)	Junior Alvarado	124	Roger L. Attfield	6/1
13	13Marwad (GB)	Sonny Leon	120	Mohamed Moubarak	8/1
14	14Native Thunder (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	120	Todd A. Pletcher	10/1