Fort Lauderdale Stakes 2021: Odds, free PPs, preview, more

Preps for some of 2022’s biggest early races headline 2021’s last Saturday of racing.

L’Imperator is the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the Grade 2, $200,000 Fort Lauderdale Stakes. Post time from Gulfstream Park is scheduled for 4:32 p.m. EST, with TVG broadcasting the 1 1/8-mile turf event live from Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Fort Lauderdale is the local prep race for the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) on Jan. 29. It highlights a card with five stakes, four graded, that includes two other preps: the $150,000 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes (G3) for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) and the $100,000 Suwanee River Stakes (G3) for the $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G3).

Chad Brown trains L’Imperator, a 4-year-old Holy Roman Emperor gelding. He owns two allowance victories this year, including last out Nov. 19 at Aqueduct, and runs for his first stakes score in the Fort Lauderdale under jockey John Velazquez.

Brown also conditions Analyze It (4-1), a veteran who collected Grade 3 wins in 2017, ’18, and ’20. He also scored an allowance victory in his last start, Oct. 8 at Belmont Park.

The Brendan Walsh-trained Space Traveller (3-1) enjoys a slight class drop after four straight starts in Group 1 or Grade 1 flight. He was fifth last out in the Keeneland Turf Mile Stakes (G1).

Two familiar names from the 2020 Triple Crown trail, King Guillermo (30-1) and Sole Volante (20-1), are entered in the Fort Lauderdale. They ran first and second, respectively, in the 2020 Tampa Bay Derby (G2), but neither has won in more than a year.

Here is a look at the field for the 2021 Fort Lauderdale Stakes (trainer and jockey in parentheses) with morning-line odds:

1. Doswell (Barclay Tagg, Junior Alvarado), 6-1

2. L’Imperator (Chad Brown, John Velazquez), 5-2

3. Breaking the Rules (Shug McGaughey, Javier Castellano), 10-1

4. English Bee (Graham Motion, Luis Saez), 20-1

5. Sole Volante (Patrick Biancone, Julien Leparoux), 20-1

6. Renaisance Frolic (Saffie Joseph Jr., Edwin Gonzalez), 30-1

7. Media Blitz (Mike Maker, Corey Lanerie), 20-1

8. Analyze It (Chad Brown, Rafael Hernandez), 4-1

9. King Guillermo (Juan Avila, Paco Lopez), 30-1

10. Order and Law (Mike Maker, Miguel Vasquez), 20-1

11. Atone (Mike Maker, Emisael Jaramillo), 12-1

12. Space Traveller (Brendan Walsh, Tyler Gaffalione), 3-1

TimeformUS’ pace projections show Analyze It going out to set a fast pace under jockey Rafael Hernandez, followed by King Guillermo. Favorite L’Imperator is expected to try to mount a rally from the back.

For more information on the Fort Lauderdale Stakes and some of Saturday’s other races, visit Horse Racing Nation’s free past performances page.

Fort Lauderdale card

Here is a look at the other stakes races on tap Saturday at Gulfstream Park. All times are EST, and all races will be broadcast by TVG.

1:54 p.m. – $100,000 Suwanee River Stakes (G3), 3-and-up fillies and mares, one mile (turf)

Shifty She (3-1) aims for back-to-back Grade 3 scores after taking the Noble Damsel Stakes on Oct. 23 at Belmont Park. Jockey Edwin Gonzalez rides the 5-year-old Gone Astray mare for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Michael Stidham trains Alms (4-1), a two-time Grade 3 winner who started her career 4-for-4 but has not found the winner’s circle since Feb. 8, 2020. In a Hurry (5-1) was fourth in the Noble Damsel for trainer Shug McGaughey after winning a Belmont allowance race Sept. 25.

2:28 p.m. – $100,000 Rampart Stakes, 3-and-up fillies and mares, one mile

Dream Marie (9-5) finished second in the 2020 Rampart, which lost Grade 3 designation for 2021 and is now a listed stakes. Matthew Williams trains the 4-year-old Graydar filly, who will have jockey Junior Alvarado up Saturday. Joseph trains Queen Nekia (3-1), who started this season with a Gulfstream score Feb. 20 in the Royal Delta Stakes (G3). Dance d’Oro (7-2) makes her stakes debut for trainer Ralph Nicks off a third-place showing Nov. 21 in a local handicap race.

3:28 p.m. – $100,000 Sugar Swirl Stakes (G3), 3-and-up fillies and mares, six furlongs

Frank’s Rockette (9-5), winner of three graded stakes in 2020, looks to snap a three-race losing streak that includes a third-place effort Nov. 13 at Churchill Downs in the Dream Supreme Stakes. Alvarado gets the call on the 4-year-old Into Mischief filly for trainer Bill Mott. Paulo Lobo trains Center Aisle (2-1), who has won back-to-back races, including a Churchill allowance Nov. 20. Bronx Beauty (6-1) was second last year in the Sugar Swirl for trainer Anthony Margotta Jr. and won her last start, a Monmouth Park allowance event Sept. 6.

Related: Barn Tour: Lobo 'very excited' for Center Aisle

3:59 p.m. – $150,000 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes (G3), 3-and-up, 1 1/16 miles

Fearless (8-5), winner of the Gulfstream Park Mile Stakes (G2) on Feb. 27, aims to end his season with another Gulfstream stakes score in this Pegasus prep. Todd Pletcher trains the 5-year-old Ghostzapper colt, who jockey Luis Saez will pilot Saturday. Josie Carroll trains Mighty Heart (9-5), the 2020 Queen’s Plate Stakes hero who took Woodbine’s Autumn Stakes (G2) in his last start Nov. 14. South Bend (4-1), a 2020 Kentucky Derby starter, still seeks his first graded stakes score for Mott.

Related: Harlan’s Holiday 2021: Odds and analysis |
Barn Tour: Josie Carroll on Mighty Heart, other top runners

Fort Lauderdale preview

From Gulfstream Park’s communications department:

Already with a handful of prospects for next month’s Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, a race he won in 2020, trainer Mike Maker may wind up strengthening his hand following Saturday’s $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

Maker entered three horses in the 1 1/8-mile Fort Lauderdale for 3-year-olds and up, one of five stakes, four graded, worth $650,000 in purses on an 11-race program. It is one of two scheduled for the Gulfstream turf course along with the $100,000 Suwannee River (G3), a prep for the inaugural $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G3).

Other Saturday stakes are the $150,000 Harlan’s Holiday (G3) for 3-year-olds and up, a 1 1/16-mile prep for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1), and the $100,000 Sugar Swirl (G3) and $100,000 Rampart, both for fillies and mares 3 and older. First race post time is noon EST.

Since the Pegasus Turf debuted in 2019, four of its runners have come from the Fort Lauderdale including winners Largent, second by a neck to stablemate Colonel Liam in January, and Instilled Regard, third to Maker-trained Zulu Alpha in 2020. In defense of his title, Maker ran third with 14-1 long shot Cross Border in 2021, beaten two necks.

Maker will send out two of the seven horses he nominated to the Fort Lauderdale, Atone and Media Blitz, as well as supplemental entry Order and Law. Three Diamonds Farm’s Atone is a 4-year-old Into Mischief gelding with four wins in nine career tries on grass, two of them coming in his last three starts, most recently a 2½-length optional claiming allowance triumph Nov. 21 at Aqueduct.

Media Blitz will be making his first start since Maker spent $100,000 to claim the 4-year-old Medaglia d’Oro colt for himself out of a third-place finish Nov. 26 at Del Mar. He has faced graded company twice previously this year, finishing off the board in the Del Mar Handicap (G2) and John Henry Turf Championship (G2).

“Nice horse. I think he probably wants to go a little further than a mile and an eighth, but it’s a good place to start with him,” Maker’s assistant trainer, Nolan Ramsey, said. “He’d been running some good races and keeping some pretty good company, too. He’s just a horse we thought would want to stretch out and it’s kind of our niche, so we took a shot.”

Media Blitz has two wins and two seconds in four tries at 1 1/8 miles, with his other victory coming in a 1½-mile allowance May 20 at Churchill Downs. He breezed an easy half-mile in 50.14 seconds Dec. 11 on Gulfstream’s main track following his cross-country trip.

“We had him for a little bit out there before he shipped back. We got a work into him the other day and I was real happy with him. He seems to handle everything good,” Ramsey said. “Very classy. Does everything you want him to do. I think he can run all day long.”

Order and Law was also claimed at Del Mar, this time for $80,000 on behalf of Paradise Farms Corp. The 5-year-old gelding – whose grandsire, Shakespeare, was a multiple Grade 1 winner on turf – ran fifth in the Oct. 2 City of Hope Mile (G2) in his first start for Maker. He rebounded to finish second by a neck at odds of 10-1 behind favored Neptune’s Storm in the one-mile Lure, also at Santa Anita.

“He was a little overmatched the first time we ran him,” Ramsey said. “We didn’t have him that long, but the addition of blinkers into the (Lure) made a world of difference. He’s a completely different horse. I think he wants to stretch out and, hopefully, be a nice marathon horse for us down the road.”

Grade 2 winners Cross Border and Field Pass are Maker horses also under Pegasus Turf consideration along with Flavius, recently sent to Maker after being purchased for $230,000 at Keeneland’s November sale.

“Obviously, (being a Pegasus Turf prep) plays a big part. There’s a couple (horses) that, had we not been pointing toward the Pegasus, we probably would have run here, so we’re going to bring a couple into the Pegasus fresh,” Ramsey said. “We’ll see. This is kind of a deciding factor for a few others. We’ll see how things shake out.”

Allen Stable, Inc.’s Doswell ran second in last year’s Fort Lauderdale, beaten two lengths by Largent despite a trip where he was bumped early, raced inside and was forced to steady at the quarter pole. He ran third by 1¼ lengths in the 1½-mile W.L. McKnight (G3) on Jan. 23 in his other start at last winter’s Championship Meet.

“He ran into all kinds of trouble last year and still ran well,” trainer Barclay Tagg said. “He’s a pretty nice horse, really. He’s had his ups and downs and he’s been a tough horse to keep sound, but he’s doing really well right now.”

Doswell has run third in each of his three starts this year. After the McKnight, he didn’t run again until Oct. 21 at Belmont Park, an optional claiming allowance where Atone ran second.

Doswell was beaten in a similar spot Nov. 19 at Aqueduct by L’Imperator, who returns in the Fort Lauderdale with two-time Grade 3 winner and twice Grade 1-placed stablemate Analyze It.

“He’s just goes out there and does it. He tries every time,” Tagg said. “He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. He’s coming into the race as good as he did last year. I’m looking forward to it.”

Clipper Logistics’ 5-year-old Space Traveller, both a Group 2 winner in Ireland and Group 3 winner in his native England at 3, will be making his fourth U.S. start this year. The Bated Breath horse has been beaten a total of eight lengths in three domestic Grade 1 races this year, including a second in the Woodbine Mile after being bumped at the start Sept. 18 at Woodbine.

“I don’t think he needs to be too far away, maybe three (or) four lengths,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “But he does like to get some pace in front of him and come running at them at the end.”

Phipps Stable homebred Breaking the Rules returns for a second straight try in the Fort Lauderdale after finishing third last year prior to a ninth in the Pegasus Turf. The 6-year-old son of War Front, trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, has raced just three times since the Pegasus, returning to win a Saratoga allowance in August. Most recently he was seventh in the one-mile Artie Schiller Nov. 13, contested over an Aqueduct turf course rated good.

Two horses that were on the 2020 Triple Crown trail, King Guillermo and Sole Volante, will meet up for a third time and first since King Guillermo’s 49-1 upset of favored Sole Volante in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2). It was a reversal of their previous meeting when Sole Volante beat top choice King Guillermo in the 2019 Pulpit on the Gulfstream Park West turf.

Victoria’s Ranch’s King Guillermo ran second in the 2020 Arkansas Derby (G1) before going to the sidelines and is winless in four subsequent starts, spread out from last December to Oct. 23 at Gulfstream when he was fourth in a one-mile handicap. He broke his maiden on the grass prior to the Pulpit, his only previous tries on turf.

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Andie Biancone’s Sole Volante finished off the board in both the 2020 Belmont Stakes and Kentucky Derby, when the Triple Crown race order was switched amid the COVID pandemic. He has failed to find the winner’s circle since a June 2020 optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream, 10 days before the Belmont, running sixth in the Oct. 22 Sycamore (G3) at Keeneland last time out.

“I think he’s training the best he ever has right now,” Biancone, trainer Patrick Biancone’s daughter and assistant, said. “I’m excited.”

Completing the field are English Bee, whose three career stakes wins include the 2019 Virginia Derby (G3); Renaisance Frolic, a three-time turf stakes winner at Gulfstream that also ran second in the March 27 Kitten’s Joy Appleton (G3); and the also-eligible Brown Storm, a Group 2 and 3 winner in his native Chile in 2018.