Baxter has all bases covered in Umphrey

To say trainer Georgina Baxter holds the upper hand in Sunday’s $75,000 Bob Umphrey Sprint at Gulfstream Park would be an understatement of enormous proportions.

If the Umphrey runs as scheduled at five furlongs on the turf, Baxter will send out the potent duo of Faction Cat, who exits a track recordsetting performance earlier this winter at Tampa Bay Downs, and old pro Pay Any Price, the current course record holder at Gulfstream Park. If the race is taken off the grass because of weather – there is an 80 percent chance of rain in the forecast for Sunday – Baxter has win machine Lady’s Island entered for the main track and likely to go postward as one of the shortest priced favorites of the meet.

The Bob Umphrey, which was postponed 24 hours after failing to fill for Saturday’s card, shares top billing on the program with the In the Breeze overnight stakes, scheduled to be run at a mile on the grass for older fillies and mares, which carries a $60,000 purse. The two stakes will be sandwiched around the first 2-year-old allowance race of the season, a 5 1/2-furlong dash which lured seven juveniles, all winners, led by the Antonio Sanotrained pair of Paladio and Papetu.

Faction Cat is coming off not one, but two outstanding performances, both at Tampa Bay Downs: a 4 1/4-length allowance win in his 2020 debut followed by a game three-quarter-length triumph in the Tampa Dash for which he earned a 109 Beyer Speed Figure. His final time of 53.97 seconds established a new fivefurlong course mark.

“We decided to send him to the farm after he ran two hard races in a row, including a track record-setting performance the last time,” Baxter explained. “You have to look after them and if you do, they’ll look after you. He’s training well since he came back. I was doing handstands after he came back from his last work. We’re hoping to use this race as kind of a prep before taking him on the road next time.”

Pay Any Price, now 10, finished third after setting a contentious pace in a high-end allowance race on May 23, his first start since being eased far behind Faction Cat in the Tampa Dash.

“His mind was really bad at Tampa, it just seems like he’s a much better horse when he can run over his home track here,” said Baxter. “We ran him last time to see where he was at mentally and he did fine. He’s a bit of a strange horse, quirky, but that’s also what makes him so good. The main problem in this race is that both our horses have the same running style, which could be trouble.”

Lady’s Island has been on a roll for well over a year, having won eight of her last nine starts including the Grade 3 Sugar Swirl in December and the restricted Musical Romance by nearly four lengths going seven furlongs on May 17. She has defeated males twice during the streak.

“She’s been training unbelievably since her last win,” said Baxter. “We’re pointing her to the Princess Rooney here later this summer, but now they are talking about changing the date so we just have to wait and see what happens.”

The Grade 2 Princess Rooney is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and is currently scheduled to be run on Sept. 5 which is now Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs.

“We really seem loaded for this race on Sunday,” said Baxter. “I just hope it goes to form.”

Krysto Skye, who ran a career best 91 Beyer Speed Figure making his first start off the claim for trainer Carlos David, is among the non-Baxter-trained contenders in the Umphrey along with Cryogenic.

In the Breeze draws 12

A dozen fillies and mares were entered for the In the Breeze, including main track entrant Crumb Bun. Kelsey’s Cross is the likely favorite and horse to beat with the multiple stakes-placed Isla Road and stakes winner Zarina among her chief rivals.

Kelsey’s Cross exploded through the final quarter-mile to a 2 1/2-length victory in the restricted Ginger Punch Stakes in her last start when given ample class relief by trainer Patrick Biancone following a steady diet of graded stakes races.

Isla Road, runner-up at 3 in the Cellars Shiraz and Tropical Park Oaks, finished a troubled third, beaten just a neck, while arguably best returning from a three-month layoff under firstlevel allowance conditions on May 17.

Zarina, a stakes winner at 3, returned to the turf to finish third after opening a clear advantage at midstretch in the 1 1/16-mile Treasure Coast on June 7.