Royal Jewely goes for Bennett

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Gerald Bennett hasn’t stabled regularly at Gulfstream Park in more than two decades. But with many Florida-breds in his stable, and fresh off a second consecutive Tampa Bay Downs training title, the 73-year-old horseman has moved in for the summer with a full contingent. He expects to reach 40 horses by the time all his 2-year-olds are ready to ship from the farm.

Among the horses Bennett already has on the grounds is Royal Jewely, who will be among the contenders in Saturday’s $100,000 Musical Romance Stakes, a seven-furlong dash for older fillies and mares that serves as a prep for the Grade 2 Princess Rooney on July 1. Royal Jewely has had more success around two turns than sprinting, but Bennett feels seven-eighths will suit her well.

Royal Jewely hasn’t raced since finishing seventh in the Distaff Turf at Tampa on April 2. Two starts back, she finished second to the Kathleen O’Connell-trained Spanish Concert in a 6 1/2-furlong handicap.

“She’s been off for a little while, so I figured I’d rather run her at seven furlongs than a distance of ground first time back,” said Bennett. “I ran her 6 1/2 furlongs at Tampa, she came out the 1 hole and caught a really fast and sharp filly of Kathleen O’Connell’s. She couldn’t quite catch her that day but might have going a little farther.

“She’s not the top end but one of those kinds right in the middle, so you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place picking spots for her.”

The well-traveled Bennett, who has won 3,657 races while maintaining a 20 percent win rate, is best known for having trained the Grade 1 winner Beau Genius, who earned more than $1 million back when that was a lot of money.

“I think I first came to Gulfstream Park on a regular basis shortly after Beau Genius retired in 1990,” he said. “I was racing at Hialeah back then as well. Lately, I’ve been going to Monmouth Park and Delaware during the summer but had to do a lot of shipping around to run because they were only racing two or three days much of the time. I’ve also picked up a lot of horses for owner Richard Averill the last few years, and he has a lot of Florida-breds, including a bunch of 2-yearolds we’ll be getting in here this summer.”

Royal Jewely will face six rivals in the Musical Romance, including Averill’s three-time stakes winner R Kinsley Doll, who is in the barn of trainer Ralph Ziadie. Also entered were R Girls a Charmer, My Dear Venezuela, Brahms Cat, and the Angel Penna Jr.trained duo of Eva London and Hola Charlotte.

Averill’s best horse may be the 3-year-old filly R Angel Katelyn, a four-time stakes winner whom Bennett sent last weekend to Pimlico, where she finished a troubled sixth in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness.

Christmas Past up for grabs

The $75,000 Christmas Past, scheduled to be run Saturday at 1 1/16 miles on turf, lured a well-matched group, including the stakes-placed Catsadiva, graded stakes-placed Dad’s Princess, and stakes winner Susie Bee.

Requite, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Amsterdam last summer at Saratoga, is among the nominees for Sunday’s sixfurlong Opening Lead Stakes. Requite, idle since finishing far back in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt 10 months ago, has been training steadily for his return at Palm Beach Downs. Trainer George Weaver is hoping to get a prep for Requite, a two-time stakes winner, prior to the Grade 2 Smile Sprint here on July 1.