Simplification in spotlight

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – All eyes will be on Simplification when the 2-year-old returns from a sensational maiden win against much tougher opposition in the first of two allowance events on Saturday’s 10-race program at Gulfstream Park.

Simplification defeated an overmatched field of Floridabred maidens by 16 3/4 lengths making his second career start and first on dirt here just three weeks ago. The 92 Beyer Speed Figure he earned is tied for sixth highest of any 2-year-old in the country this season, and it’s the same number Octane posted capturing the In Reality division of the Florida Sire Stakes here earlier this fall.

Simplification will again go six furlongs while facing five rivals in Saturday’s co-feature, stepping up against open company and into a field that includes two other impressive last-out maiden winners, Shastree and Of a Revolution. Desert Ruler, Fast N Steady, and Summery complete the lineup.

Trainer Antonio Sano said Simplification’s ownership group, headed by Tammi Bobo, fielded numerous offers to purchase the son of Not This Time following his eye-catching maiden win, but decided not to sell.

“He’s done very, very well since his maiden win, and for me, although he’s facing a much better field this time, I’m confident he will be able to go out and repeat that effort,” Sano said Thursday.

Simplification has worked once since winning his maiden, a bullet five furlongs in 59.60 over a muddy strip on Saturday.

“I think he’ll eventually stretch out, and I’m looking forward to running him in the big 3-year-old races here next season,” said Sano. “He drew the rail again for Saturday, but it’s a small field and I don’t think he needs the lead, so that should be no problem.”

Shastree rallied from just off the pace to a game neck victory for trainer Terri Pompay here Oct. 16 in his only start, while Of a Revolution has been sidelined since debuting successfully as a 3-5 favorite in late May. Both horses have also been training forwardly, Of a Revolution particularly so, having registered a pair of 59-and-change five-furlong drills within the past two weeks for leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.

Saturday’s co-featured ninth race will be run at five furlongs over the Tapeta surface and lured a field of nine 3-year-olds and up, with Joseph sending out Island Commish as the likely favorite. Island Commish is in quest of his first victory since capturing the Grade 3 Kitten’s Joy Stakes here 22 months earlier. Island Commish, who has raced at six different tracks in his last eight starts, will make just his third start of 2021 and first since finishing fourth against a strong allowance field going seven furlongs at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 9.

New Jersey invader Like What I See is the only member of the field to have won over a synthetic surface, having posted a pair of victories at Woodbine as a 2-year-old in 2017. Like Island Commish, he will take advantage of the optional-claiming clause in the conditions and compete under a $25,000 claiming tag.