There was a need for speed over the Gulfstream Park turf course on Saturday, with the majority of the grass stakes winners parlaying forwardly-placed trips into victory.
First up was the $150,000 Palm Beach (G3) for 3-year-olds running 1 1/16 miles. The Brendan Walsh-trained Vitalogy was favored while making his first start since a tough-luck runner-up effort in the Oct. 6 Bourbon (G3) at Keeneland, and the son of No Nay Never lived up to expectations. After tracking the pace under Javier Castellano, Vitalogy took command readily on the far turn and scooted away in the stretch to defeat Tiesto by a length in 1:41.86.
In the $150,000 Honey Fox (G3) for fillies and mares at a mile, the pacesetting Silver Kitten did her best to sneak away on the front end, but she ultimately settled for second place as Getmotherarose became a rare deep-closing winner on grass. Under a perfectly timed ride from Junior Alvarado, Getmotherarose overcame a troubled start to score by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:34.73. Thomas Bush conditions the daughter of Get Stormy.
Elizabeth Way struck a major blow for front runners in the $150,000 The Very One (G3), leading all the way under jockey Paco Lopez to defeat 11 other fillies and mares in game fashion. Slow fractions of :23.76, :48.69, and 1:13.45 aided the Irish-bred daughter of Frankel, who accelerated sharply down the lane to defeat the pace-tracking Romantic Pursuit by 1 1/2 lengths. Trained by Roger Attfield, Elizabeth Way stopped the timer for 1 3/16 miles in 1:54.26.
Cheermeister replicated Elizabeth Way’s tactics in the $150,000 Herecomesthebride (G3) for sophomore fillies, seizing the early initiative and never looking back. Jockey Emisael Jaramillo perfectly rationed Cheermeister’s speed through fractions of :23.46, :47.27, and 1:11.46, which allowed the daughter of Bodemeister to hold off the pace-tracking Abscond by three-quarters of a length. The Armando De La Cerda-trained filly was clearly ready to roll and clocked 1 1/16 miles in a snappy 1:41.32.
The mile $150,000 Canadian Turf (G3) was never going to be won in front-running fashion after Gidu ran off to a 7 1/2-length lead through blazing fractions of :21.93, :44.26, and 1:08.27, but his Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate Sombeyay was always prominent under jockey Flavien Prat, rallying from third at the half-mile pole to score by half a length over the late-charging English Bee. The quick pace translated to a fast final time as Sombeyay, a son of Into Mischief, hit the wire in 1:32.44.
