Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hemsworth favored in $100,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes.
Gulfstream Park puts 3-year-olds in the spotlight Saturday in its first multi-stakes card of 2017.
Four stakes races for sophomores, who collectively aged one year in classification as of Sunday, are on the 11-race slate with the highlight the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes.
The race, which was run for years as the Gulfstream Park Derby, is the first stakes race of the meet for 3-year-olds at distance. It has attracted 11 hopefuls with Hemsworth drawing early favoritism in the morning line at 7-2.
The colt turned heads in his most recent outing, a 9
1⁄2-length win in the Nashua Stakes in November at Aqueduct. The maiden-breaking win just happened to come in a Grade II race, making him the only horse in the field with a graded stakes victory to his credit.
The Tom Albertrani-trained Hemsworth will break from the far outside in the mile-long race, which will run out of the chute that extends over the Miami-Dade County line. The early second choice in the race, Cavil at 9-2, also broke his maiden at Aqueduct, that coming at a mile in a maiden race in December in a 5 1⁄2-length win.
Both Hemsworth and Cavil are owned by Godolphin Racing. The remainder of the field will start the day at 5-1 or longer.
Besides the Mucho Macho Man, graded stakes placings are on offer in the $100,000 GIII Dania Beach Stakes. Run at 7 ½-furlongs on the grass, Made You Look has drawn the shortest odds of the eight horse field at 9-5.
One of two entries trained by Todd Pletcher, Made You Look, already has a win in the GII With Anticipation Stakes in August at Saratoga. The son of More Than Ready was last seen finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
Kitten’s Cat, at 3-1, is also a stakes winner, that coming in the ungraded Juvenile Turf Sprint Stakes in November on Breeders’ Cup weekend at Santa Anita.
Fillies will get their opportunity to improve their class in the $100,000 GIII Old Hat Stakes. If the oddsmaker has it right, the small field of seven horses will have their hands full holding off Bode’s Dream.
The daughter of Bodemeister is a perfect 3 for 3 lifetime which includes a stakes win over the Gulfstream grass. Bode’s Dream captured the House Party Stakes by 2 ¾-lenghts on Dec. 10 as part of the Juvenile Showcase card. Bode’s Dream is the clear 8-5 favorite in the morning line in the 6-furlong Old Hat.
Finally, the $100,000 Ginger Brew Stakes offers fillies the chance to vie for a share of the purse at 7 ½-furlongs on the turf. The race has drawn in 12 runners with Juenesse Doree the slight early pick at 4-1.
The daughter of Dream Ahead is coming off of her maiden breaking win by 4 ¾-lengths at Keeneland in October. Behind her, Party Boat slots in at 9-2, Conquest Vivi is at 5-1 and Bahama Halo is listed at 6-1.
The Ginger Brew is the 10th race on the card, just ahead of the Mucho Macho Man which has a listed post time of 4:34 p.m.