Avow to Try Grass in Sunshine Filly and Mare Turf

Bass Stables' Avow , impressive winner of her first two career races nearly a year apart, will return to state-bred company and try turf for the first time looking to regain her winning form in the Jan. 14 $75,000 Sunshine Filly and Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park.

The one-mile Filly & Mare Turf for females 4 and older is the first of two stakes restricted to Florida-breds on an 11-race program followed by the $75,000 Sunshine Sprint for 4-year-olds and up going six furlongs. By $17 million earner Arrogate, Avow was a $300,000 yearling who has made each of her three career starts on Gulfstream's main track.

She debuted with a last-to-first, eight-length maiden special weight triumph sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs in December 2021 before going to the sidelines. She returned with a one-mile optional claiming allowance score over older horses by 5 1/4 lengths Nov. 4.

"She was impressive in her first two starts. She's looking for two turns and more distance; hopefully, she'll handle the surface switch," Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. "We don't really know. It's a Florida-bred race and she's Florida-bred, and we're hoping she'll take to the turf."

Most recently, Avow faced her elders a second straight time in an open optional claiming allowance Dec. 14 at Gulfstream going one mile, racing inside before getting out late and winding up second, beaten 2 1/2 lengths by Soul of an Angel  but 10 1/2 lengths clear of third-place Three Witches .

 "She got kind of bottled up in some traffic and didn't get in the clear until it was a little too late, but she still closed well," Pletcher said. "I thought it was a good effort."

Also entered are Crystal Coast , Don't Get Khozy , Extravagant Rosie , Lookinlikeaqueen , Mona Stella , Sonar , Sugar Fix , and Sweet Dani Girl .



Sunshine Sprint

Arindel's Gatsby  is back to defend his title in Saturday's $75,000 Sunshine Sprint at Gulfstream Park, where one of his six rivals will be a stablemate, Michelle and Lawrence Sargent's Legal Deal .

"We ran them in the same race last year. Gatsby won and Legal Deal ran somewhere in the middle of the field. He needed some time off," trainer Carlos David said.

The Sunshine Sprint is a six-furlong dash for older Florida-breds.

Gatsby has won only once since his Sunshine Sprint win, but the 5-year-old homebred son of Brethren   is coming off a sharp effort in the seven-furlong Marion County Florida Sire Stakes, in which he closed resolutely to finish just a half-length behind victorious and multiple stakes-winning stablemate Octane  and a head behind graded stakes winner Willy Boi .

"That was a good performance at Tampa," David said. "Gatsby prefers three-quarters, I think."

Legal Deal, who finished fourth in last year's Sunshine Sprint, enters this year's running off a brief freshening after finishing first or second in his last four starts, including a narrow loss to next-out winner The Distractor  at Gulfstream last time out Nov. 13.

"I gave him a little break and sent him to a friend's farm near Palm Meadows. We brought him back and he's feeling really, really good," David said.

Boca Boy , Cajun's Magic , Legends Can't Die , Lightening Larry , and Unsociable  round out the field.

Entries: Sunshine Filly and Mare Turf S.

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, January 14, 2023, Race 9

• STK
• 1m
• Turf
• $75,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 4:06 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Sonar (FL)	Edgard J. Zayas	122	Juan Alvarado	8/1
2	2Avow (FL)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Todd A. Pletcher	4/1
3	3Don't Get Khozy (FL)	Leonel Reyes	122	Elizabeth L. Dobles	12/1
4	4Sweet Dani Girl (FL)	Joel Rosario	118	Carlo Vaccarezza	7/2
5	5Extravagant Rosie (FL)	Jorge Ruiz	118	J. Kent Sweezey	20/1
6	6Crystal Coast (FL)	Luis Saez	118	Carlos A. David	8/1
7	7Sugar Fix (FL)	Tyler Gaffalione	120	Robert B. Hess, Jr.	2/1
8	8Lookinlikeaqueen (FL)	Junior Alvarado	118	Monica McGoey	12/1
9	9Mona Stella (FL)	Jose L. Ortiz	118	Patrick L. Biancone	10/1