Imagining riding two-race win streak into GP Turf Handicap

Imagining seeks his second graded victory in Sunday’s GP Turf Handicap (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography)

Phipps Stable homebred Imagining has been a consistent barn
favorite for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey, capping the 2013 season with
his elusive first graded victory.

The lightly raced six-year-old son of Giant’s Causeway will
go after an even bigger prize on Sunday in the Grade 1, $300,000
Gulfstream Park Turf
Handicap, the lone Grade 1 grass stakes of the Champions meet.

First or second in 10 of 14 lifetime starts, seven of them
victories, Imagining brings a two-race win streak into the 1 1/8-mile turf test,
which shares the card with the Grade 1, $500,000 Donn Handicap and Grade 3,
$150,000 Hurricane Bertie.

“He’s a neat horse. We had some offers to buy him to go to
stud, and Mr. Phipps said, ‘If he’s OK, let’s try to race him,’ so that’s what
we’re going to do,” McGaughey explained. “I think he’ll run good. This is the right
spot. There’s no Point of Entry or Animal Kingdom in there, so we’ll just see
how it goes and get him started.”

Imagining has tried Grade 1 company before,
finishing second in the 2011 Hollywood Derby to end his two-year-old season, and
sixth in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational last fall behind Grade 1
winners Little Mike, Big Blue Kitten and Real Solution as well as multiple Grade
2 victor Twilight Eclipse.

Summer Front opened 2014 with a nice win in the Ft. Lauderdale (Bob Coglianese/Adam Coglianese Photography)

Also looking for his first Grade 1 victory in Saturday’s GP Turf ‘Cap is Summer Front,
trained by Christophe Clement for Waterford Stable. The seven-time stakes winner
has won three Grade 3 races and captured the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale is his most
recent effort at Gulfstream on January 11.

The War Front five-year-old has two wins and a third
from three lifetime starts at Gulfstream, also taking the Dania Beach in
2011.

“He’s doing great and training well,” Clement said. “We’re
excited about it. He’s been very good since the last race, and I was delighted
with the last race. He’s a fit horse. Obviously, he likes it at Gulfstream. The
next race will be a tougher race. There’s no easy Grade 1, but we’ll give it a
go. Now is the time to try our best.”

A winner of 11 races and more than $1.3 million in purse earnings, Boisterous
will be making his 29th career start in the GP Turf ‘Cap and first for new
trainer Todd Pletcher after being purchased for $350,000 by Gary Barber at the
2013 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Boisterous will attempt to strut his stuff in his fourth Gulfstream Park appearance (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography)

Boisterous will carry the highweight of 119 pounds in Sunday’s race with
Javier Castellano aboard.

Pletcher will also saddle Charming Kitten, an optional claiming
winner at Gulfstream on January 11 who took the Kitten’s Joy Stakes and ran second in the Palm Beach last winter.

Amira’s Prince has won all four of his starts since coming
to the United States from his native Ireland, but hasn’t raced since taking the Mervin
H. Muniz Jr. Handicap at Fair Grounds last March. He is three-for-three at Gulfstream,
winning a pair of optional claimers before a 3 3/4-length victory in
the Mac Diarmida.

“He just wasn’t moving well,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill
Mott explained the layoff. “We gave him some time off, turned him out for 90 days
and brought him back. He’s doing fine. There was no surgery or anything like
that, he just needed a vacation. He’s doing well. I hope he can pick it up where
he left off.”

Also running for Mott will be Tetradrachm,
runner-up in two straight graded stakes including the Fort Lauderdale,
three-quarters of a length behind Summer Front.