Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Taghleeb leads field in 2-mile Jerkens Stakes
Two-mile horse races in North America are as rare as a Kardashian house without a camera crew. Yet on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, the day’s featured race will be contested at 16 furlongs on the grass as a full field of 14 will go to post in the $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes.
Trainer Mike Maker will saddle Taghleeb and Generous Kitten in the race named for the Hall of Fame trainer who passed away in Aventura last year. Taghleeb has drawn the shortest odds in the morning line at 3-1. He is one of four horses in the field with a stakes win on his resume, that coming in the 1 1⁄8-mile Remington Green Stakes over the Remington Park grass in September.
Generous Kitten, the other half of the uncoupled entry, is the second choice at 4-1. The 5-year-old gelding’s last win came in May in the allowance ranks at 1 3⁄8 miles, but his best finish in his next four outings, all in stakes company at 1 1⁄2 miles or more, is a second in the Laurel Turf Cup Stakes. Irish-bred Montclair, at 5-1, also has only an allowance win to his credit since he shipped to the U.S. last summer, but did win a Grade III race while competing in France.
It’s only fitting that the unconventional race attract an unconventional entry. Top Striker is coming off of four straight starts in hurdle races, with two secondplace finishes and wins in his past two outings. The 7-year-old gelding most recently posted a 10 1⁄2-length win in the 2 3⁄4-mile GI Colonial Cup Stakes at Camden.
Supporting the feature on the 11-race Saturday card are a pair of $75,000 turf races, each at 1 1⁄16 miles. Followers of this year’s Triple Crown should be familiar with the name Oscar Nominated, the 3-1 early favorite in the Tropical Park Derby.
Sired by Kitten’s Joy, renowned for producing outstanding grass runners, Oscar Nominated punched his ticket to the Kentucky Derby with an upset win in the Spiral Stakes. But after finishing 17th at Churchill Downs, Oscar Nominated returned to the grass and recorded his most recent win in September in the lucrative Dueling Grounds Derby at Kentucky Downs.
Oscar Nominated will battle 11 3-year-old rivals in the Derby. The mirror race for fillies and mares, the Tropical Park Oaks, has attracted a full field of 14 with Try Your Luck as one to watch.
The daughter of Looking at Lucky has won four of her past six starts, with her most recent being a 7 1⁄2-length win in the Dueling Grounds Oaks. She is the morning line favorite at 3-1.
Other horses meriting consideration are Shaan, Azaelia and Gypsy Eyes, each of which began their careers in Europe but have posted wins during their brief time in the U.S. Turf trainer extraordinaire Christophe Clement will saddle a couple of contenders in the Oaks in Stella Rose and Welcoming.
The fourth stakes on the card, the $75,000 Via Borghese, will see a field of 12 contest 1 3⁄16-miles also on the turf. The Chad Browntrained Happyness, who is two for two since coming to the U.S. this year, has been tabbed as the early 3-1 favorite.