Gulfstream news: Two-mile H. Allen Jerkens right up 'Bullards' Alley
Trainer Tim Glyshaw almost regards any distance shorter than 1 1/2 miles as a sprint when he forms a racing schedule for Bullards Alley, the 7-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s $100,000 H Allen Jerkens at Gulfstream Park.
“He doesn’t have that kind of kick that he can win at a mile and a quarter. If I had my choice I wouldn’t run him shorter than a mile and a half,” Glyshaw said. “There are enough of them that you have to ship around for them.”
Bullards Alley has run at eight different tracks in his last nine starts in search of distance races, and Glyshaw found the two-mile distance on turf to be right up- his 5-year-old gelding’s alley.
Bullard’s Alley, an $11,000 purchase as a 2-year-old at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Summer Horses of Racing Age sale, found Woodbine particularly to his liking when he scored a 42-1 upset in the 1 1/2-mile Canadian International (G1) by 10 ¾ lengths in October. In his most recent start he finished sixth in the 1 ½-mile Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) at Del Mar, finishing just 3 ½ lengths behind victorious Talismanic.
“I thought he ran well. He did draw the ‘2’ hole. There were 13 after the scratch. It’s not an optimal place for him to be. He will run between horses, but there’s just lots of traffic. Until the top of the stretch, he did have lots of traffic and when he ran, he made a good run,” Glyshaw said. “With a little luck, I think we could have easily finished fourth. I’m not sure we could have finished any better than that. Those two horses [winner Talismanic and third-place finisher Highland Reel] obviously proved themselves and went over to Hong Kong and finished 1-2 (in the G1 Hong Kong Vase Dec. 10) in the opposite side of the world.”
The late-developing Bullards Alley scored his Grade 1 victory in his 35 starts.
“We started him as a 2-year-old for maiden [claiming] $30,000. He cracked his shin. He stayed with us at the barn,” said Glyshaw, noting that the six-month down time between races was a blessing in disguise. “He was a bit of a rogue. They gelded him. He was very high strung. He’s still high-strung but he’s manageable now. The older he’s gotten, the better he’s gotten."
Clasico Del Caribe Starter El Kurdo Returns in H. Allen Jerkens
After El Kurdo finished second in the $100,000 Clasico Invitacional del Caribe at Gulfstream Park Dec. 9, the immediate plan was for Stud David Y Daniel’s Kentucky-bred campaigner to return to Ecuador Jan. 8.
El Kurdo is still scheduled to make his flight to Ecuador a week from Monday but not before the 6-year-old son of Giacomo makes an impromptu start in Saturday’s $100,000 H Allen Jerkens.
“The plan was to send him back to Ecuador and get him ready for the Clasico again. But he hardly drank any water and came out of the race super,” trainer Chad Summers said. “He’s supposed to leave for Ecuador on Jan. 8. We just got to thinking about it and said, ‘If he’s doing OK we’ll give him one more shot.’”
El Kurdo closed from off the pace in the 1 ¼-mile Clasico Invitacional to finish second behind Coltimus Prime.
“Í was really happy with it. He’s a horse that doesn’t like a sloppy track. You come here and it’s a once-a-year opportunity. We were nervous about the rain. I think he showed a lot of heart to run on and run second.”
The H. Allen Jerkens will be contested at two miles on turf. El Kurdo has run twice on turf, winning once.
“We breezed him on the turf. He went three-quarters [in 1:14.80] and did it the right way and galloped out the right way. A two-mile race is a galloper’s race and he’ll gallop all day long,” Summers said. “He’s not fast. We make no bones about it, but hopefully, he can gallop them to death. That’s the plan.”
South American jockey Edwin Talaverano Cardenas is scheduled to return to South Florida to accept the mount aboard El Kurdo.