Phantom Ro Aims to Extend Streak in FSS Affirmed Stakes

Raroma Stable's undefeated Phantom Ro, an impressive winner of his stakes debut earlier this month, will return to head a formidable quartet trained by Ralph Nicks in the $200,000 Affirmed Division of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes at Gulfstream Park Sept. 2.

The Affirmed and the $200,000 Susan's Girl Stakes for fillies, both at seven furlongs, comprise the middle legs of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association's annual series for 2-year-olds sired by nominated stallions standing in Florida.

The Affirmed and Susan's Girl follow the Dr. Fager Stakes, won by Phantom Ro, and the Desert Vixen Stakes, won by Go Astray, which were contested Aug. 5. The series concludes with the $400,000 In Reality and $400,000 My Dear Girl stakes Sept. 30.

Phantom Ro has won both of his starts in frontrunning fashion by a combined five lengths. He took his debut July 8 by 2 1/4 lengths and won the six-furlong Dr. Fager by 2 3/4 lengths over favored Dunk.

The Wildcat Heir colt has worked once since the Dr. Fager, when he went five furlongs in a bullet :59.87 in company with stablemate Soutache Aug. 23 at Gulfstream for Nicks.

"He's showed some versatility," Nicks said. "In his first race he got away bad. He stalked a little bit and was handy enough to be in the race around the turn and drew off nicely. Last time he ran heads up with the leaders in the stallion series and drew off late. I don't think he's one-dimensional and obviously he has some quality about him based on what he's done."

Nicks will also send out GoldMark Farm homebred Soutache (by Backtalk) and Jacks or Better homebred Kingston Pike (Awesome of Course), who finished third and fifth, respectively, in the Dr. Fager, along with Belven Stables' maiden winner Capital S (Wildcat Heir), who will make his stakes debut in his second start.

A victory by Phantom Ro would put him in position to become the second straight horse to sweep the FSS series for colts and geldings, following Three Rules in 2016. The last time the series was swept consecutively was in 2008 (Big Drama) and 2009 (Jackson Bend).

Arindel homebred Dunk (Brethren ) will return in the Affirmed with a change of equipment, as trainer Stanley Gold has opted to add blinkers following the Dr. Fager. In that race, Dunk moved to within a head of the lead at the half-mile mark but was unable to keep up with the winner, though he dug in for second.

"He fought on late, but it looked to me like he hung," Gold said. "We had been talking about blinkers for a long, long time. When they're running good, you don't want to make a change. I don't think it will have a negative effect and hopefully it will have a positive effect."

Upset at 7-10 odds in the Desert Vixen, Awesome Mass will seek redemption for her backers in the Susan's Girl. 

The daughter of Brethren produced one of the fastest speed figures for a 2-year-old this year, when she broke her maiden July 20 at Gulfstream by 11 3/4 lengths and earned a 79 Equibase Speed Figure. In the Desert Vixen the Arindel Farm homebred filly stumbled at the start of the six-furlong stakes and grabbed a quarter. 

"She stumbled twice coming out of there," Gold said. "It wasn't the fact that she grabbed herself. It was that she wasn't up with the field. She had to race up there to get her position. They went :44.93 for the half—that obviously took something out of her. When she went to put in her run, she wasn't in a position to stay with the leader. The leader had the jump on her, but she hung on strong for second."

Awesome Mass had a much smoother trip when she broke her maiden in her third start. She set the pace with an uncontested lead and rolled home to an easy victory to finish five furlongs in :57.18. The Florida-bred filly ran the last eighth of a mile in :11.63 and the last three-eighths in :34.20.

"There's good racing luck and bad racing luck. That one worked out beautifully. She was in front controlling the pace and no one (was) pressing her. By the time they did, it was too late. She had too much left in the tank," said Gold, who has saddled the winners of a record 18 FSS events.

It's very possible that Go Astray will out-sprint Awesome Mass to the lead again in the Susan's Girl, which attracted a field of nine juvenile fillies. Ramiro Medina's daughter of Gone Astray  has demonstrated a high turn of speed in all of her starts, including the Desert Vixen, in which she set fractions of :22.22, :44.93, and :57.31 on her way to a final six-furlong clocking in 1:11.08.

"She's doing really good. She came back in a good form and we're feeling really confident for Saturday's race," said trainer Angel Rodriguez. "It think she will be very tough. She is 100% for sure."