Prince Lucky back for more in Gulfstream Park Mile

Daniel McConnell's homebred Prince Lucky will aim for back-to-back graded stakes scores at Gulfstream Park when he faces five others in the March 30, $300,000 Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) on the $1 million Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1) undercard.

The 4-year-old Pennsylvania-bred gelding by Corinthian returned from an eight-month layoff in the Feb. 23 Hal's Hope Stakes (G3) and ran off by six lengths over his Todd Pletcher stablemate, Copper Town. The victory was the first graded stakes win for Prince Lucky, who also won the Easy Goer Stakes on the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) undercard. 

While with trainer Larry Jones, Prince Lucky won the Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes at Parx Racing as a juvenile before switching to Pletcher's care in late winter of last year.

"We were excited about his comeback race and have been targeting [the Gulfstream Mile] for a while, and so far everything has gone according to plan," Pletcher said. "I think he has the capability to stretch out, but coming off a good win at a mile race here and having the opportunity to do the same thing again, it seemed to make sense."

John Velazquez, aboard for Prince Lucky's last two starts, returns to ride from post 4.

Tale of Silence, a 5-year-old Charles Fipke homebred by Tale of the Cat , will try to rebound from a fourth in the Hal's Hope, his first race since last May. Prior to the break, Tale of Silence rallied to win the Westchester Stakes (G3), his first graded stakes victory, at Belmont Park by a nose in a blanket finish. Prior to the Westchester, the Barclay Tagg trainee placed twice in grade 3 stakes—a second in 2017 Dwyer Stakes (G3) and a third in last year's Fred W. Hooper Stakes (G3).

Manny Franco will guide Tale of Silence from the rail.

Crossed Sabres Farm's Be Gone Daddy, trained by Marcus Vitali, makes his first start in stakes company. The 4-year-old Scat Daddy gelding has won three of six races, including his last two, since Gulfstream Park's Championship Meet kicked off Dec. 1. A winner in claiming only four starts back, Be Gone Daddy rallied to a seven-furlong allowance optional claiming victory at 10-1 March 3, beating by a head the favorite, Identity Politics, from trainer Chad Brown's barn.

Luis Saez has the mount from post 3.

Millionaire Runner, All Golden, and Guy Caballero, who respectively drew posts 2, 5, and 6, complete the field. Millionaire Runner will look to finish in the money for the first time since August and All Golden has one maiden claiming win from July 2018 in his 26-race career. Former Woodbine runner Guy Caballero, who won the 2017 Plate Trial Stakes, has hit the board in his last five starts. Saturday's race will be his third time competing at the South Florida track.

The Gulfstream Park Mile goes as Race 4 of 14. Post time is 1:00 p.m. EDT.

Entries: Gulfstream Park Mile S. (G2)

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, March 30, 2019, Race 4

• Grade II
• 1m
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 1:00 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Tale of Silence (KY)	Manuel Franco	118	Barclay Tagg	7/2
2	2Millionaire Runner (KY)	Leonel Reyes	118	Jaime Mejia	30/1
3	3Be Gone Daddy (ON)	Luis Saez	118	Marcus J. Vitali	9/2
4	4Prince Lucky (PA)	John R. Velazquez	124	Todd A. Pletcher	2/5
5	5All Golden (KY)	Marcos Meneses	118	Jaime Mejia	99/1
6	6Guy Caballero (ON)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	12/1