Performer rallies to win Gulfstream's G3 Fred W. Hooper

It was closer than most expected, but 4-5 favorite Performer was able to close late to win the Grade 3, $150,000 Fred W. Hooper at Gulfstream Park, the first race of his 5-year-old season.

From the gate, it was Shivaree who took the lead in the one-mile race for 4-year-olds and up. Performer fell back after breaking the rail in the eight-horse field, while Eye of a Jedi pursued the leader.

Fractions for the first three quarters were 23.20, 46.46 and 1:09.89.

Those two continued to lead through the far turn, when Performer, a son of Speightstown out of the A.P. Indy mare Protesting, began his run from the outside under jockey Joel Rosario.

“Joel said ‘Uh oh, I better get going and he picked them up,” winning trainer Shug McGaughey said.

Shivaree fell off the lead going into the stretch and finished fourth, but Eye of the Jedi, a Gulfstream local trained by Steve Budhoo, battled with Performer the entire way, only getting beat by a neck. Performer’s winning time was 1:09.89.

“He broke well and it really looked like [Shivaree] was going to take the lead and the other horse on the outside, so I kind of just let him be in that spot," Rosario said. "I didn’t want to fall too far back but be there in the race, because he broke good and he got the job done. He’s a nice horse.”

Avant Garde finished third, while Phat Man, who won last year's Fred Hooper, checked in fifth.

The win ups Performer's record to 8: 6-0-2 with more than $400,000 in earnings for Phipps Stable and Claiborne Farm. His only previous stakes win came in the Discovery Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct in November 2019. In his most outing, he was a disappointing third as the odds-on favorite in a sloppy Cigar Mile (G1) at Aqueduct on Dec. 5.

After the race, McGaughey said Performer is due to stretch-out in distance.

“I think I need to stretch him out,” McGauhey said. “Watching him today, maybe he’s a little more one-paced being an older horse, which happens sometimes, they lose some of their quickness.”

Performer paid $3.80 for the win.