Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Garter and Tie should relish one-mile Smooth Air distance
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Garter and Tie, second in the finale of the Florida Sire Stakes series, will attempt to get back on the winning track as the likely favorite in the $75,000 Smooth Air, one of six juvenile stakes on an allstakes 11-race program Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Trained by Ralph Nicks, Garter and Tie did not distinguish himself in his first two starts but has flourished as the distances of his races have gotten progressively longer. He finished third and was placed second in the opening leg of the Sire Series, the six-furlong Dr. Fager, then won the sevenfurlong Affirmed by defeating Well Defined four weeks later.
But he proved no match for Well Defined when they met again in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality. Well Defined drew off to a 7 1/2-length victory with Garter and Tie finishing 14 1/2 lengths clear of the others.
“He ran his race the last time, but the winner got loose on the lead in a slow pace and he’s too good a horse to beat under those conditions,” Nicks said. “I gave him a break, have been pointing for this race ever since, and the one-turn mile should be perfect for him.”
Maddy’s Last Dance is the only multiple winner among the seven entrants in the onemile Smooth Air. The improving son of Two Step Salsa earned his diploma at second asking under a $50,000 claiming tag here early this fall before returning three weeks later to defeat high-priced starter allowance company. His bid for a third straight win fell a neck short of the odds-on Jackson in the Juvenile Sprint at Gulfstream Park West after having his best chances compromised by a slow start and a wide trip.
Souper Jackpot makes his local debut off a half-length maiden win last month at Churchill Downs for trainer Mark Casse. The Live Oak Plantation homebred earned an 81 Beyer Speed Figure, second-best in the field behind only Garter and Tie, who has an 87 and an 86.
The two strongest and most competitive races of the six 2-year-old stakes on the card are both scheduled for a mile on the turf – the $75,000 Pulpit and its filly counterpart, the $75,000 Wait a While.
The Wait a While drew a field of 10, led by the Chad Browntrained duo of Queen Medb and Multi Strategy. Other key contenders include stakes winners A Bit Special and Vow to Recover, the undefeated Red Rounder, and recent maiden breakers Aunt Hattie and Fortunate Girl.
Queen Medb enters the Wait a While a maiden, but demands much respect off a couple of close second-place finishes launching her career last summer in Ireland. She was scratched out of a scheduled start in a maiden race switched from turf to a sloppy main track at Aqueduct on Nov. 16.
Multi Strategy, by Scat Daddy, won a maiden race in her third start, rallying from just off the pace going 1 1/16 miles over a “good” course at Belmont Park on Oct. 8.
A Bit Special is just a neck shy of being undefeated in three tries while having improved with each start. Her last outing was an impressive three-length victory in the one-mile Our Dear Peg here on Sept. 29.
Vow to Recover is perfect since being switched to turf and stretched out around two turns by trainer Elizabeth Dobles earlier this fall at Gulfstream Park West. She defeated males to win her maiden in her grass bow, then came right back to capture the one-mile Juvenile Fillies Turf in similar late-running fashion.
“I was looking for the longer distances and, with races being hard to come by for 2-year-old fillies going over a mile on the dirt, I tried turf and she just took to it,” Dobles said. “She just does it so easily. She goes by them like they’re standing still.”
Stakes winner Henley’s Joy, exiting a 13th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and the Group 1-placed Nashtrick top the well-matched nine horse field for the Pulpit.
Henley’s Joy, by Kitten’s Joy, earned a berth in the Breeders’ Cup after missing a nose to Current in the Grade 3 Bourbon at Keeneland.
Nashtrick finished third behind the even-money and undefeated Fog of War in the Group 1 Summer Stakes on Sept. 18 at Woodbine. He’ll return to the grass in the Pulpit after a seventh as the 4-5 favorite in the Grey Stakes over Woodbine’s Tapeta main track.
Other major players in the Pulpit include local stakes winners Stirling Drive and Louder than Bombs, and the once-beaten Faraway Kitten.
The six-furlong Buffalo Man and House Party and the onemile Hut Hut complete the juvenile stakes here Saturday.