Brilliant Speed to Return in Appleton

Trainer Tom Albertrani will put Brilliant Speed back in action in the $100,000 Appleton (G3) at Gulfstream Park on March 31.

The 4-year-old son of Dynaformer, a Grade 1 winner who competed in two legs of the 2011 Triple Crown, hasn’t raced since finishing third in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5.

“He’s been training very well,” Albertrani said. “If you remember him last year, he was always a little light framed. He’s matured and muscled up more as an older horse. He’s been training very forwardly.”

Brilliant Speed recorded two second-place stakes finishes on turf at Gulfstream last year before closing from last over Keeneland’s Polytrack surface to capture the Blue Grass (G1) by a nose.

Live Oak Plantation’s homebred finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Belmont Stakes before  being switched back to turf for the fall campaign that culminated with his solid show performance in the Turf.

Brilliant Speed has a very promising younger brother, but Souper Speedy won’t be following in his footsteps on this year’s Triple Crown trail. The 3-year-old son of Indian Charlie had a series of workouts at Palm Meadows in preparation for his return to action, but Albertrani decided to back off on his training recently.

“We just decided to slow things down. He just didn’t seem to settle in, so we decided to back off on him and give him some time,” Albertrani said. “There was nothing physically wrong with him. He just wasn’t himself.”

Souper Speedy captured his debut at Belmont Park last October before finishing a close second in the Remsen Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct in late November.

“We’ll be seeing him later in the year,” Albertrani said of the Live Oak Plantation homebred.