A Bit Special Could Extend Fast Start in Sweetest Chant
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
A Bit Special wins the Wait a While Stakes at Gulfstream Park
A winner of back-to-back stakes races, A Bit Special will make her graded stakes debut Feb. 3 in the $100,000 Sweetest Chant Stakes (G3T) for 3-year-old fillies on the turf at Gulfstream Park.
With rain in the forecast Saturday, the one-mile Sweetest Chant and the $100,000 Dania Beach Stakes, a one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds, were moved to Gulfstream's Sunday card.
Campaigned by owners connected to Coolmore, A Bit Special won the Our Dear Peggy Stakes in late September at Gulfstream and closed out 2018 with a win in the Wait a While Stakes on the same course. The British-bred daughter of Mukhadram has won three of four starts, all on the Gulfstream turf, with her one loss by a neck to Entirely.
"She has a huge acceleration and she relaxes during the races. So far, she's been fantastic to me," said trainer Patrick Biancone. "She is doing very good. We tried to space her races and give her a chance to mature, and she will be a very good filly this summer. We're just trying to go step by step. We have no rush. She has a nearly perfect record, and we'll go from there."
Trainer Chad Brown won six consecutive editions of the Sweetest Chant from 2012-17 before finishing second and seventh in 2018, and he returns with another pair for this year's race in group 3-placed La Feve, entered for her North American debut, and Paul Pompa Jr.'s Regal Glory, who boasts wins in her first two starts.
Regal Glory, a daughter of Animal Kingdom , won the six-furlong Stewart Manor Stakes on the turf at Aqueduct Racetrack Nov. 11 in her most recent start.
A pair of unbeaten fillies will make their stakes debuts in Marylou Whitney Stables' Hard Legacy, who won a maiden debut at Keeneland and an optional-claiming allowance race at Gulfstream in two 2018 starts, and Mission From Elle, who scored an impressive Dec. 30 maiden win on the Gulfstream turf.
"She won at the distance and she won over the course, and she's done really well since then, or I'd be very concerned when it comes to these things especially with not much experience," said Mission From Elle's trainer, Brendan Walsh. "She's come back and she's been working really good."
In the Dania Beach, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Robert LaPenta and Dixiana Farms' Current, winner of the 1 1/16-mile Dixiana Bourbon Stakes (G3T) on the turf last fall, finds himself back on the grass for his 3-year-old debut. The son of Curlin closed 2018 with a main-track effort in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2), where he finished seventh.
"We decided to give him a try on the dirt, and, unfortunately, we had bad conditions that day. The track came up sloppy, but he ran OK despite that," said trainer Todd Pletcher. "We're looking forward to getting him back on the turf and have been kind of targeting the Dania Beach for a while."
Gulfstream Park, Sunday, February 03, 2019, Race 9Entries: Dania Beach S.
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Stirling Drive (FL)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
120
Milton W. Wolfson
30/1
2
2Rayo My King (KY)
Fernando Salazar Becerra
116
Jaime Mejia
30/1
3
3Casa Creed (KY)
John R. Velazquez
120
William I. Mott
7/2
4
4My Silencer (ON)
Chris Landeros
120
William Tharrenos
15/1
5
5Louder Than Bombs (KY)
Paco Lopez
120
David Fawkes
10/1
6
6A Thread of Blue (KY)
Luis Saez
116
Kiaran P. McLaughlin
4/1
7
7Fed Fever (KY)
Tyler Gaffalione
116
George Weaver
15/1
8
8Ole Mole (KY)
Jose L. Ortiz
116
Guadalupe Preciado
20/1
9
9Shootin the Breeze (KY)
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
116
H. Graham Motion
20/1
10
10Current (KY)
Javier Castellano
122
Todd A. Pletcher
2/1
11
11Royal Urn (NJ)
Leonel Reyes
116
Michelle Nihei
8/1
12
12Going for Gold (KY)
Albin Jimenez
116
Robert B. Hess, Jr.
20/1
Gulfstream Park, Sunday, February 03, 2019, Race 9Entries: Dania Beach S.
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Stirling Drive (FL)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
120
Milton W. Wolfson
30/1
2
2Rayo My King (KY)
Fernando Salazar Becerra
116
Jaime Mejia
30/1
3
3Casa Creed (KY)
John R. Velazquez
120
William I. Mott
7/2
4
4My Silencer (ON)
Chris Landeros
120
William Tharrenos
15/1
5
5Louder Than Bombs (KY)
Paco Lopez
120
David Fawkes
10/1
6
6A Thread of Blue (KY)
Luis Saez
116
Kiaran P. McLaughlin
4/1
7
7Fed Fever (KY)
Tyler Gaffalione
116
George Weaver
15/1
8
8Ole Mole (KY)
Jose L. Ortiz
116
Guadalupe Preciado
20/1
9
9Shootin the Breeze (KY)
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
116
H. Graham Motion
20/1
10
10Current (KY)
Javier Castellano
122
Todd A. Pletcher
2/1
11
11Royal Urn (NJ)
Leonel Reyes
116
Michelle Nihei
8/1
12
12Going for Gold (KY)
Albin Jimenez
116
Robert B. Hess, Jr.
20/1