Paolucci to run pair in Mr. Prospector

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There are only 14 horses nominated to Saturday’s Grade 3 Mr. Prospector, four of whom come out of the same barn and belong to the same owner, Looch Racing Stable’s Ron Paolucci.

Paolucci nominated Mo Don’t Know, Sight for sore eyes, Storm Advisory, and Uno Mas Modelo to the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream Park; all four are trained by Anthony Quartarolo.

Paolucci on Sunday said he planned to run two of the four, Storm Advisory and Uno Mas Modelo. Storm Advisory returns to more suitable company after finishing a distant seventh in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap. Uno Mas Modelo exits a stellar performance in which he overcame a horrendous start to register a rather eye-catching nose decision in the Claiming Crown Rapid Transit on opening day of the 2018-19 Gulfstream Park Championship meeting.

“Storm Advisory is a oneturn horse,” Paolucci said. “The last four times we’ve run him around one turn he had two wins and a couple of seconds. I don’t think he’s in the same league as Uno Mas, but you never know.”

Paolucci said he kind of jinxed Uno Mas Modelo just prior to the Rapid Transit and that he remains amazed at how he was able to overcome the adversity to get the victory, which followed a resounding four-length tally in the Bet On Sunshine Stakes four weeks earlier at Churchill Downs.

“I was up here in the grandstand before the race bragging about how good he was in the gate, saying how he’s the best gate horse I’ve ever had, and of course what happens, he stumbled leaving there,” Paolucci said.

Uno Mas Modelo broke a good five lengths behind the field before circling very wide into the stretch and resolutely wearing down the leader in the final strides of the sevenfurlong Rapid Transit.

“To make the kind of move he did after that start on a slow track like they ran on that day was unbelievable,” Paolucci said. “I didn’t want to run him in this race, I wanted to wait for the race on Pegasus Day at a mile [Grade 3 Fred Hooper]. But he’s been knocking the barn down, he wants to run, he’s ready, so we’re going to run him.”

Paolucci said he is resisting the temptation to run Mo Don’t Know in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 26.

“I toyed with the idea of running him in the Pegasus,” Paolucci said. “He’s getting close to $1 million in earnings, he’s got 17 wins, and he’s so good around two turns. It’s not out of the realm of possibility I could run him in the Pegasus, but I just don’t think he’s of the same caliber of those horses, so I’ll probably run him in a softer spot on the undercard.”

Glorious Empire eyes Pegasus

Trainer James “Chucky” Lawrence reported Glorious Empire returned to his home base at the Fair Hill Training Center early Monday morning in “great shape” following his impressive, wire-to-wire win in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale at Gulfstream Park and that the thought, at the moment, is to bring him back here for the $7 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational on Jan. 26.

“He looks 100 percent coming out of the race,” Lawrence said. “I just got off the phone with [owner Matt Schera], and he said to see how the next two weeks look with him, but at the moment everybody, including Edgar Prado, is on board with the thought that it’s a good idea to go back there next month for the Pegasus.”

Lawrence said Prado, who guided Glorious Empire to victory in the Fort Lauderdale, said he was actually gearing his horse down at the end.

“It’s hard to compare one good race to another. All of his three stakes wins this year were pretty good, even the dead heat in the deeper going at Saratoga,” Lawrence said, referring to the Bowling Green. “All I can say is how lucky I am to have a quality horse like this come my way.”

Three allowances Thursday

There are three allowance races on Gulfstream’s Thursday program, the best of which may be the ninth race, a $40,000 optional-claiming event restricted to Florida-breds at a mile on the turf. Key contenders in a wide-open, nine-horse field include Zap Daddy, Blue Lute, Expected Ruler, and Seattle Treasure.

Zap Daddy, claimed for $50,000 by trainer Pat Reynolds out of a winning effort Oct. 19 at Belmont Park, nearly returned quick dividends when stepping up to finish second against open allowance and optional-claiming foes earlier this month at Aqueduct. The stretch-running 3-year-old won his only previous local start, defeating statebred maiden special weight opposition here in his career debut March 9.

Blue Lute will look to make amends after finishing second as a prohibitive 2-5 favorite under similar conditions last month at Gulfstream Park West, the setback snapping a modest two-race win streak for the son of Midnight Lute who also was claimed for $50,000 earlier this season.