Sitdham will be a presence

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s always good to see some fresh faces show up each winter at Gulfstream Park, especially one with as talented a stable as trainer Michael Stidham operates on a year-round basis.

Stidham will be a regular in South Florida for the first time during the upcoming Championship meet, basing that string at Gulfstream where he expects to keep upward of 35 horses this season, while continuing to maintain his primary outfit at his regular winter home at the Fair Grounds over the next several months.

Stidham, who sent out Mystic Guide to capture the Group 1 Dubai World Cup earlier this year, currently has 22 horses bedded down at Gulfstream, including the undefeated 3-year-old prospect Uphold the Law, who will be among the leading contenders in Sunday’s co-featured seventh event, a $46,000 allowance dash going six furlongs that is restricted to Florida-breds and lured a highly competitive field of nine that also includes likely favorite Raise the Rent.

“We’ve been sending our winter string to Tampa the last five years but the purse structure there is insulting,” said Stidham. “The bottom line is you are running against shipins from Chad [Brown], [Christophe] Clement, [Bill] Mott, and others while running maidens for a $20,000 purse. It just didn’t make sense to do that anymore.”

Stidham said the new Tapeta racing surface installed here earlier this year also went a long ways toward his decision to ship locally for the winter.

“The Tapeta track was a big part of it,” said Stidham. “I’ve raced at Arlington for over 20 years and had a lot of success on the synthetic track. I’m a believer that synthetic tracks keep horses sounder and healthier than some of the dirt tracks around the country. We also tend to have a lot of turf horses in our barns and it makes sense to come here and be able to move over to the synthetic when those races are taken off the grass due to weather. It’s just something that has worked for our program.”

Although Stidham will spend the bulk of the winter at the Fair Grounds, he said he plans to make several trips to Gulfstream

over the next several months. “New Orleans is my home, but I’ll be in and out there a bunch of times this winter,” Stidham said.

Uphold the Law will be making only his second start on Sunday. He shipped down from Tampa to win his career debut in impressive fashion here in March, rallying to a 3 3/4-length victory over a solid field of statebred maiden rivals.

“He is a very talented horse who was really impressive in his first start,” said Stidham. “Unfortunately he came out of the race with a shin fracture, so we gave him all the time he needed to heal up completely and he’s been training really well since he returned. Any time a horse has been away that long, potentially they’ll need a race, but based on works he gives the impression he’s ready. I’m just excited to be getting another chance with him.”

Raise the Rent is also lightly raced, having finished third behind Mutasaabeq at Saratoga in his lone start at 2 during the summer of 2020 before returning here earlier this fall to win his maiden in stylish fashion with an 86 Beyer for current trainer Aubrey Maragh. Raise the Rent has reportedly been gelded since that outing and will be facing statebreds for the first time on Sunday.

Financial System will likely be favored over nine rivals in the afternoon’s ninth race, a $52,000 allowance test carded at a mile on the main track.

Financial System, claimed for $10,000 out of a winning effort by leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. for owner Frank Calabrese on Sept. 10, stepped up to allowance company and missed by a neck to the up-andcoming 3-year-old Manor House going a mile last month. He has posted near career-best Beyers of 88 and 89 in his last two starts and figures to be part of a very honest pace scenario that’s also likely to include American Prince, Alonzo, and perhaps the South American-bred, Group 1-placed Oriental Trigger.

American Prince is short on experience but long on talent, having also posted an 89 Beyer in just his second career start when beaten a neck by Gatsby going six furlongs on Sept. 9. Sunday will mark the first time the homebred son of Liam’s Map has been given the opportunity to stretch his speed as far as a mile.