2018 Gulfstream Park Turf Preview, Entries & Odds

Gulfstream Park - The 31st running of the Gulfstream Park Turf for 4-year-olds and up, the lone Grade 1 grass stakes of the 2017-2018 Championship Meet, shares the spotlight with the 71st renewal of the $150,000 Suwannee River (G3) for fillies and mares 4 and older Saturday, Feb. 10. Both races are contested at 1 1/8 miles.

---

---

Pletcher-trained stablemate Hi Happy had a 6-0 record in his native Argentina including four Group 1 victories before coming to the U.S. in the fall of 2016. Winless in four North American starts, he has not run since finishing third by a neck in the Tokyo City (G3) last April at Santa Anita.

Chilean-bred Kurilov won a Group 1 stakes in his final start at home last May, and is seeking his first victory in the U.S. He raced twice last fall and winter in New York, beaten a neck while third in the Queens County Dec. 23 at Aqueduct last out.

Graded-stakes winners Blacktype; Heart to Heart, four-for-six lifetime at Gulfstream; Oscar Nominated, Shining Copper, Granny's Kitten, March and Money Multiplier are also nominated.

March Forges Ahead in Saturday's Gulfstream Park Turf

Short, long, dirt, turf - Robert LaPenta's March has done it all during his four years of racing.

A graded-stakes winning sprinter during his first two years of racing, the 6-year-old son of Blame has evolved into an accomplished turf performer who is set to compete in Saturday's $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf (G1).

"It's just a testament to his athleticism and his overall generosity as a horse," trainer Jonathan Thomas said of March's high-level performance on both dirt and turf. "These better horses are just generous horses that are giving you a lot of themselves. I'm not saying the surface is insignificant, but it takes a special horse to strive on both."

March, who had been trained by Chad Brown, is scheduled to make his second start for Thomas, an up-and-coming trainer who has been enjoying considerable success the past couple of years while basing his stable at Bridlewood Farm in Ocala, where he also recruits and breaks 2-year-olds for clients.

"The horse came to us really in excellent shape, but he just needed a little time. He'd been on the go for quite some time. He laid up at Bridlewood and we gave him some time off and started him back," said Thomas, who served 6 ½ years as an assistant to Todd Pletcher. "He's been with me for about 13 months."

March came off an 11-month layoff to capture a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance on turf at Gulfstream Park Dec. 29, rallying five wide to prevail by a length.

"As a trainer you always hope you've done your best to train them for a good effort off an extended layoff. He's sort of horse who was always in good hands and he was super well managed so we were getting a finished product. He's just a really cool horse, very generous, a good training horse," Thomas said. "He really makes life easy as far as being a trainer. I was more concerned if I had done enough, but he's such a class horse. That kind of shined through when he ran."

March excelled as a main-track sprinter as a 3-year-old, capturing the Bay Shore (G3) at Aqueduct and the Woody Stephens (G2) at Belmont, both at the seven-furlong distance. He was switched to turf at the end of his sophomore season, finishing second, edged by Chiropractor by a head, in the Hollywood Derby (G1) at Del Mar. His victory at Gulfstream in December was his first on turf.

"He's really trained on well. He's had four works since he ran, three of them have been with Catholic Boy - they're actually workmates," said Thomas, who will saddle LaPenta's Catholic Boy, a graded-stakes winner on turf and dirt, for Saturday's Sam Davis (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs. "He had a pretty stout piece of work two weeks ago at Tampa and then he breezed a nice half on turf on the grass course at Bridlewood last week. He seems to be in a great shape. This race wasn't on our radar until he ran and came out of it well. It just makes sense to take a shot now."

Tyler Gaffalione has the return mount aboard March.

Rodney Paden's One Go All Go enters the Gulfstream Park Turf off a pair of near-misses over the local grass course, including a runner-up finish by a neck behind Shining Copper in the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) Jan. 13.

"He beat himself," trainer Scooter Dickey said. "When he got by that horse, he threw his head up and quit running. That horse didn't come back and beat him. He let the horse come back and beat him."

Chris Landeros has the return mount aboard the 6-year-old son of Fairbanks.

"I told the jock, `Don't let him go to the front until right at the wire,'" Dickey said. One Go All Go joined Dickey's stable after being purchased for $62,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November sale.

"We bought him because he ran third to Flatliner," said Dickey, who saddled Flatliner for a victory in the 2017 Fort Lauderdale. "Flatliner's on the shelf right now, so he's taking his place right now.

Terry Hamilton's Heart to Heart, the beaten odds-on favorite for the Fort Lauderdale, is set to seek to make amends Saturday. The free-running turf star reared in the starting gate and was rated to stalk the pace, eventually fading to seventh after being unable to get involved in the early pace. Trained by Brian Lynch, the 7-year-old son of English Channel had won four of his previous starts over the Gulfstream grass, including the Canadian Turf (G3) last year.

Julien Leparoux has the mount aboard the multiple Grade 1 stakes-placed veteran Trainer Chad Brown entered both Money Multiplier and Kurilov in the Gulfstream Park Turf.

Al Shahania Stud's Money Multiplier, a Grade 2 stakes winner and multiple Grade 1 stakes-placed finisher, is set to make his 2018 debut. The 6-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky will go over the $1 million earnings mark with at least a third-place finish.

Hall of Famer Javier Castellano has the call aboard the 2017 Monmouth Cup (G2) winner.

Kurilov, a multiple Grade 1 winner in Chile, is slated to make his third U.S. start for Head of Plains Partners, Spellman, Doheny, Coleman and Stud Vendaval. The 5-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky finished third, beaten by a neck, in the ungraded Dec. 23 Queens Country Stakes at Aqueduct last time out. Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount.

Bill Mott-trained Channel Maker, who finished third in the Hollywood Derby (G1) at Del Mar Nov. 25, is set for his 2018 debut in the Gulfstream Park Turf. Owned by Joey Gee Thoroughbreds, Wachtel Stable and Gary Barber, the 4-year-old son of English Channel will be ridden by Nik Juarez.

La Providencia's Hi Happy, a multiple Grade 1 winner in Argentina, who is slated to make his first start since finishing a close third in the Tokyo City (G3) at Santa Anita last April; and Revved Up, who finished third in the River City (G3) at Churchill in his 2018 finale, are also scheduled to start in the Gulfstream Park Turf.