First look: Probables line up for Gulfstream Park's stakes trio

While the eyes of the racing world Saturday will largely be focused on Oaklawn Park and the two divisions of the Arkansas Derby (G1), Gulfstream Park is also set to serve up multiple stakes.

The $100,000 Big Drama for Florida-breds going seven furlongs, $75,000 English Channel Stakes for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16-miles on the turf and the complementary $75,000 Honey Ryder Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going the same trip are all scheduled.

Below is an early look at the prospective fields via the Gulfstream Park racing office. Entries will be taken Wednesday.

Big Drama Stakes

Upset Hutcheson Stakes winner With Verve is among the Florida-breds aiming for this elongated sprint. A homebred of Eric J. Wirth trained by Larry Bates, With Verve rallied from dead last to get up and beat Shivaree, who went on to run second in the Florida Derby (G1), by a neck in the Hutcheson for his first stakes win. 

Stakes-winner Red Crescent will be making his third start this season after running fourth in the Harlan’s Holiday (G3) and second in the Sunshine Millions Classic, both around two turns, for trainer John Vinson.

Also looming is Network Effect for multiple Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown. The lightly-race 4-year-old, who was twice graded stakes-placed as a juvenile, returned from a three-plus month layoff to finish second in an allowance/optional claiming event at Gulfstream Park in his seasonal bow on March 28. 

English Channel Stakes

This is shaping up as another wide-open turf stakes. Doc Boy has won three of six starts and exits a win in the March 7 Columbia Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs for trainer Michael Stidham.

Proven Strategies ran in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf while still a maiden and finished off the board. Trained by Mark Casse, the son of Sky Mesa will enter off maiden and allowance wins in his last two starts.

Don Juan Kitten showed promise in two starts a season for trainer Danny Gargan. He was a debut winner at Belmont Park on Oct. 5 and came right back to be a solid third in the Awad Stakes at Belmont three weeks later. This will be the first start in six months for the son of Kitten’s Joy.

South Bend, winner of last year’s Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs, has earned minor shares in four straight stakes this season for trainer Stanley Hough. Most recently, the son of Summer Front was second behind Grade 1 winner Decorated Invader in the March 28 Cutler Bay Stakes at Gulfstream. 

Trainer Todd Pletcher could enter both Summer to Remember and Last Judgement. Summer to Remember finished third in the Kitten’s Joy earlier this year and exits a fourth-place finish in the Cutler Bay, while Last Judgment -- who has won three of seven starts -- switches to turf after finishing off the board in the March 28 Cutler Bay.

Honey Ryder Stakes

Steadfast Stable’s Highland Glory will merit a big look in this spot. After earning minor shares in two starts last year, the Barclay Tagg-trained sibling of Highland Sky has been perfect in two starts as a 3-year-old. The daughter of Sky Mesa earned her diploma on Jan. 19 and came right back to win the Sanibel Island at Gulfstream by a neck on March 28.

Onyx won a pair of minor stakes at Gulfstream last year for trainer Juan Alvarado, but when returning for her 3-year-old debut in the Sanibel she finished last of 11.

Bajan Girl broke her maiden in her third start on March 8 at Gulfstream and came back to be fourth most recently  in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) on March 28. Diamonds Are A is an allowance winner making her first start since finishing off the board in the Nov. 30 Wait a While at Gulfstream, while Stunning Sky is also an allowance winner who was fourth in the Sanibel.