Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Gunnevera targets Woodward
Gunnevera emerged from his Friday comeback race at Gulfstream Park in good order and remains on pace for a start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Sept. 1 at Saratoga, according to his trainer, Antonio Sano.
The Woodward is part of a plan to get Gunnevera back to the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Gunnevera on Friday was making his first start since coming out of an eighth-place finish in the Dubai World Cup with an injury to his right front hoof. He rolled by 6 1/2 lengths in the 1 1/16-mile allowance, winning in hand in 1:42.03 and earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 85.
He returned to the track Monday at his base of Gulfstream Park West.
“Everything is good – everything is a go right now,” Sano said Monday. “The horse came back great. He went back to the track today because he’s doing so good.”
Sano said two works are planned ahead of the Woodward, with a major drill scheduled for Aug. 24. Gunnevera is scheduled to arrive at Saratoga on Aug. 26.
Edgard Zayas, who rode Gunnevera on Friday, has the mount in the Woodward, said Tito Fuentes, agent for Zayas.
Gunnevera was fifth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic and second to West Coast in the Travers. Gunnevera, a multiple Grade 2 winner who has earned $2.9 million, races for the stable Margoth.
Debut winner sets track record
The past and the present came together in the Gulfstream winner’s circle on Sunday for trainer Stanley Gold. He sent out Nacho Mama ($22.60) in the day’s fourth race to set a track record for 4 1/2 furlongs in her debut. She won a maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies in 50.86 seconds, lowering the mark of 51.07 held by another Gold trainee, Awesome Banner, who set the record in his own winning debut on June 5, 2015.
Awesome Banner would go on to win the Grade 3 Hutcheson and Grade 2 Swale under the care of Gold. As for Nacho Mama, she could see stakes action in the near future. She rallied from just off the pace for a two-length win Sunday.
“I was happy,” said Gold. “She’d shown a lot of speed in her works, but you never know what to expect first time out.”
The fun carried into the next race, as Nacho Mama’s full sister Awesome Mass ($6.80) won an allowance by a neck.
“That was a pretty neat coincidence, to have two horses you thought were doing well, both in back-to-back and full sisters, and both perform like that,” Gold said. “That was kind of like icing on the cake.”
Nacho Mama and Awesome Mass, who is 3, are by Brethren and out of the mare Horah for Bailey. The fillies were bred in Florida by their owner, Arindel, and each was ridden Sunday by Jeffrey Sanchez. Brethren is a half-brother to Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and he stands at Arindel in Ocala, Fla.
Gold has a number of 2-yearolds in the barn by Brethren.
“They’re looking pretty good this year,” he said. “One thing I like about them, they all try.”
Gold has a pair of 2-year-olds by Brethren entered for Thursday at Gulfstream, led by Hill Valley, who goes in the third race, a maiden special weight for fillies over six furlongs. Sanchez has the mount for Arindel.
Gold said an option for Nacho Mama is the $200,000 Susan’s Girl division of the Florida Sire Stakes on Sept. 1 at Gulfstream.
“It’s a possibility,” he said. “We’ve got some others for it. We’ll see how she is and how she comes out of this race. We’d being going from four and a half to seven-eighths. We’ll see how she progresses, if she’s fit enough to go the seveneighths.”
Awesome Mass could move back into stakes company. Gold said her options are the Grade 2, $250,000 Prioress for 3-year-old fillies on Sept. 2 at Saratoga; the Grade 3, $300,000 Charles Town Oaks on Sept. 22; and the $100,000 Sheer Drama on Sept. 8 at Gulfstream.
“We haven’t decided what to do,” Gold said. “We’ll look at them all.”
◗ Gulfstream leading rider Tyler Gaffalione won five races on the 12-race card Sunday, including the $75,000 Sugarloaf Key Handicap with Curlin’s Approval. Curlin’s Approval earned a Beyer of 87.