A field of nine three-year-old fillies will head down the aisle
in the Grade 3, $150,000
Herecomesthebride,
Sunday’s featured event at Gulfstream Park. Meet-leading trainer Todd Pletcher
is set to saddle Candy Kitty and Seeking Her Glory, both winners over the
course, in the nine-furlong turf test.
Candy Kitty is the more accomplished of Pletcher’s pair, winning the Wait a While over a sloppy track on November 30
and most recently weaving her way through traffic to prevail in the January 5 Ginger Brew
on the Gulfstream grass.
“She ran well here both when the race came off the turf and
on the turf, so she’s pretty versatile,” Pletcher said. “She seems to be doing
well.”
Jockey Edgar Prado, who rode the daughter of Lemon Drop Kid
in each of her last two wins, will be aboard when she breaks from post
position 2. As a stakes winner already, Candy Kitty will be the 120-pound highweight and concede four pounds to the other fillies.
Virginia-bred Seeking Her Glory shed her bridesmaid status with a front-running tally
on February 9 over the Gulfstream course and distance. The Giant’s Causeway filly
was second behind the re-opposing Hardly at Aqueduct on November 17 and to
next-out Sweetest Chant second Party Now on January 2 prior
to her graduation.
“I thought her maiden win was very good,” Pletcher
remarked. “She seems to be steadily improving with each start. She is making a
big jump from a maiden to a stakes, but her numbers suggest that she fits, and
the mile and an eighth seemed to suit her last time. Seeing that this is (the
same distance) is why we decided to step her up in here.”
Meet-leading jockey Javier Castellano will once again ride Seeking Her Glory.
Pletcher entered Fierce Boots, a romping stakes winner at Aqueduct,
as main-track only for the Herecomesthebride. The John Servis-trained Joint
Return joins Fierce Boots on the main-track only list.
High Wire Kitten broke her maiden December 22 over the Gulfstream grass and
added an allowance victory eight days later on Turfway Park’s Polytrack for trainer Wesley Ward.
The Kitten’s Joy filly, who was freshened following that score and has recorded four notable workouts at
Palm Meadows during February, will be ridden by Dylan Davis.
Hardly is coming off a troubled fourth-place effort in the one-mile Sweetest Chant on January 26
and will be ridden by jockey Jose Lezcano on Sunday. Sweetest Chant third-placer Room Service,
who drew the outside
post in the nine-horse field, will have the
services of jockey Joel Rosario for the first time.
Earlier on Sunday’s card, six runners will line up in the $75,00
Caixa Eletronica going six furlongs on the main track.
Ribo Bob heads the field off nice wins in the Florida Sunshine Millions
Sprint and Claiming Crown Express for trainer Jason Servis. The Louis Quatorze
gelding actually suffered just one loss from 11 starts in 2013, finishing second
in the Fabulous Strike Handicap in late November to break a nine-race win
streak. Paco Lopez has been aboard the six-year-old bay for his past three races
and retains the mount on Sunday.
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