Veterans in showdown for 11th win

With 10 victories apiece, there is no doubt that well-seasoned veterans Warren’s Joe T. and Jaiden’s Best know how to find the winner’s circle. The question facing handicappers Thursday at Gulfstream Park is whether either is sitting on win No. 11 when they square off against five others in the $45,000 optional-claiming feature.

Warren’s Joe T. is still going strong at 7, having won 2 of 9 starts in 2017, with both victories coming in a span of less than four weeks this past winter in California. A son of Affirmative, Warren’s Joe T. was claimed for $6,250 out of the first of those two wins, Feb. 20 at Golden Gate Fields, and wound up being sent to South Florida earlier this summer by his current owner, the Imaginary Stables, to join trainer Elizabeth Dobles’s barn at Palm Meadows.

Warren’s Joe T. has made two starts during the current meet, finishing fourth and fifth, beaten five lengths on each occasion, by some solid starter-allowance competition. Both races were around one turn. Warren’s Joe T. will stretch out around two turns to perhaps his most effective distance, 1 1/16 miles, on Thursday.

“A mile is okay for him, but I believe the two turns will be more beneficial,” said Dobles, who has won six races from just 32 starters at the meet.

“I think he was in a little bit over his head in both of his previous starts here, and I’m hopeful putting him in against a little more restricted company will help him out as well.”

Jaiden’s Best has been a model of consistency since being haltered by trainer Bernardo Lopez in the interests of Dialf Racing last March, winning three races and placing in four others in nine starts since. The Florida-bred son of Wildcat Heir is coming off arguably his most impressive performance yet, a wire-towire 6 3/4-length decision going one mile Sept. 3 against statebred allowance types, with his 81 Beyer Speed Figure easily the best last-race number in this field. He should prove the controlling speed again under jockey Emisael Jaramillo, and the added distance likely will not be an issue, with three of his 10 wins having come at 1 1/16 miles.

In contrast to Warren’s Joe T. and Jaiden’s Best, Prince Tito owns only a single victory. But he’s also the only member of this lineup with recent stakes

experience, having finished fourth behind Travers runnerup Gunnevera two starts back in the Tangelo Stakes and seventh making his turf debut less than two weeks later.

Prince Tito should have the best late kick in Thursday’s headliner, along with Moonshine Martin, who rallied to a one-length decision over Jaiden’s Best when the two last met June 30.

Completing the field are Fearless Dragon, runner-up against $50,000 starter opposition in his last start; Joshua’s Comprise, who won for just the third time in his 66th career start July 16; and recent $6,250 claiming winner All Hundreds.