Dolphus set to make his graded stakes debut in Hal's Hope

Fresh off a confidence-building romp over older horses to cap his sophomore campaign, Dede McGehee’s Dolphus is set to make his graded-stakes debut in Saturday’s $150,000 Hal’s Hope (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

 

The half-brother to Hall of Fame mare Rachel Alexandra carried great expectations early in his career both for his pedigree and after winning two of his first three starts last winter at Fair Grounds.

 

Given a break through the late winter and spring, he returned with a pair of off-the-board finishes in back-to-back summer stakes at Saratoga and Delaware Park, then got another short freshening before returning to run fourth in a one-mile allowance Oct. 27 at Keeneland.

 

Trainer Joe Sharp kept the Lookin At Lucky colt in Kentucky to prepare for his 2016 finale, a seven-furlong off-the-turf sprint Dec. 11 at Gulfstream where he set the pace and drew off handily down the stretch to win by 9 ¾ lengths.

 

“He came out of the race great. He seems to have picked his head up a little bit,” Sharp said. “[The Hal’s Hope came] up pretty tough, but he moved forward a lot last time and we’re looking for him to move forward again with a little bit more confidence under his belt.

 

“It was a huge relief, I’m not gonna lie,” he added. “We’ve known the horse has the ability and we believed in him but at the same time we kind of felt like he’d let us down a few times and left us scratching our head. I think the addition of blinkers definitely seemed to help him. The sealed racetrack could have been a factor, as well.”

 

Dolphus drew the rail in a nine-horse Hal’s Hope that includes graded-winners Ami’s Flatter, Mr. Jordan and Tommy Macho and graded stakes-placed Realm, Team Colors and Unbridled Outlaw. Jockey Joel Rosario will be aboard for the first time.

 

“Circumstances kind of put him there where he got pretty brave on the lead last time. His two other victories he had come from off the pace,” Sharp said. “Hopefully the addition of blinkers was just a simple thing to make him focus, because the ability’s there. When he breezes in the mornings he handles the fast tracks fine, so that has never been a concern of ours.

 

“If he’s competitive in the Hal’s Hope, which we think he will be, then we’ll know he’s continued to move forward,” Sharp said. “If he isn’t competitive or didn’t give us the effort we were looking for, then we might consider trying him on the grass the next time.”

 

 

Joseph Allen’s homebred Team Colors, unraced since finishing second in the Skip Away (G3) last April at Gulfstream Park, makes his long-awaited return to the races in the Hal’s Hope.

 

The 5-year-old son of Street Cry made his first four starts in France in the winter and spring of 2015 before joining trainer Jimmy Jerkens that summer at Saratoga. He has never been worse than third in seven North American starts with allowance wins at 1 ¼ miles on turf and 1 1/16 miles on dirt.

 

He was second in the English Channel and Tropical Park Derby turf stakes, the latter at Gulfstream, to cap 2015 and opened last year with a neck win over a muddy main track before finishing a gutsy second to Valid in the 1 1/8-mile Skip Away. After returning to New York to prepare for the Westchester Stakes, Team Colors suffered a fractured cannon bone that was surgically repaired.

 

“He was doing so good, that’s what killed us. We were really looking forward to a big year with him. It was just one of those things,” Jerkens said. “The operation went well. It wasn’t a displaced fracture so it was pretty simple. It mended perfectly and he hasn’t missed a beat. He’s like a new horse.”

 

Team Colors has been working steadily for his debut, including four breezes since mid-December at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County. Most recently he went five furlongs from the gate in 1:00.90, fastest of 14 horses at the distance Jan. 7.

 

“Last year it took him a while. He hadn’t run in this country yet, either, so that might be a little difference but it took him a few starts to round to form. I think he’s a little different now. He’s older and mature and a little stronger,” Jerkens said. “It’s a tough spot. He’s training great, I’m not saying he won’t run good or anything like that, but I’d have to think he’d be better with a start under his belt. But the important thing is to get him going and get him set up for the rest of the year.”