Lobelia works her way up at Gulfstream Park
Lobelia’s seventh-place finish at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 12 was hardly an auspicious debut, but at least William Cubbedge’s homebred filly made it into the starting gate for the $12,500 maiden claiming race.
Although her scheduled debut earlier in the Championship Meet had to be aborted due to bad pre-race behavior and despite her off-the-board in her first career start, trainer Carlo Vaccarezza wasn’t quite ready to write off the 3-year-old daughter of Paddy O’Prado.
“When she came to me from the training center she was kind of under-developed and she had some issues. The way she was, I didn’t think much of her – that’s why I entered her for $12,500,” Vaccarezza recalled. “Actually, the race for twelve-five was a pretty good race. She was full of run. She got in a lot of trouble in the race and she was running at the end. I called Mr. Cubbedge and said, 'Bill, I think we may have underestimated her. I think she may have some potential. We need to do some work with her and put some weight on her.'”
Nearly seven months later, a more mature Lobelia figures to be a prominent contender in Thursday’s featured sixth race, a mile $43,000 allowance on turf.
Lobelia, who closed from 14th to seventh in her 5 ½-furlong debut on dirt, returned two months later in a 1 1/16-mile turf race for $25,000 maiden claimers and emerged with a hard-fought victory despite bumping at the start. Bred in Kentucky by Cubbedge, who co-bred and co-owned 2011 Preakness winner Shackleford, Lobelia has continued running well on turf while winning two of four starts. Most recently, she closed from last to capture a mile optional claiming race June 26.
“Her problems were solved and she happened to like the turf. She’s a different horse now,” Vaccarezza said. “We made some changes and, fortunately, they worked.”
Rated second in the morning line at 5-2 for Thursday’s feature, Lobelia is set to face seven fillies and mares (not counting two main-track only entrants), including Teri’s Big Heart, the Steve Dwoskin-owned and –trained 2-1 morning-line favorite, who has finished second in her last two starts.
Emisael Jaramillo has been named to ride Lobelia for the first time Thursday, when first-race post time for the 10-race program is set for 12:50 p.m.
The sixth race is carded as the second leg of Thursday’s 20-cent Rainbow 6 sequence that will span Races 5-10. The popular multi-race wager, which yielded a $411,000 jackpot payoff Saturday, will offer a $6,870.67 carryover. There will also be a $4,017.92 Super Hi-5 carryover for Thursday's first race.
Source: Gulfstream Park