Pink Poppy Blossoms in Sunshine Millions F&M Turf

Narrowly beaten in her stakes debut last month when coming from way back, Pink Poppy took the lead after a half-mile and never looked back to post an 11-1 upset of the $100,000 Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

A 4-year-old Florida-bred daughter of Tiznow, Pink Poppy ($25.40) ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.51 to capture her first stakes victory in her third start for trainer Marty Wolfson, who also won the race with Stay Forever in 2003 and Trip for A. J. in 2011.

“We just wanted to win a stake with her,” Wolfson said. “I’ve liked her since day one. The way she trains, she’s very forward. She doesn’t do anything wrong, and she’s very sound. She beat some nice fillies today.”

Jockey Julien Leparoux, aboard for the first time, settled Pink Poppy in fifth out of the gate as 50-1 long shot Salamera ran a quarter-mile in 24.61 seconds. In the clear on the outside, Leparoux found himself in front after a half in 49.86 and cruised home from there, holding off a challenge from Waterway Run to win by 1 ½ lengths. Awesome Flower was third.

“She broke fine and we were sitting fifth, but they started backing up on us and I didn’t really want to fight with her,” Leparoux said. “She’s a big, long-striding filly, so I kind of let her run free. I started riding her early so she’d keep on going and she did fine, finished up nice and never got tired.”

Pink Poppy was one of three Wolfson-trained horses in the Filly & Mare field, along with Rock On Baby (fourth) and E B Ryder (sixth). It was his third victory in the race, following Stay Forever in 2003 and Trip for A.J. in 2011.

In her previous start, Pink Poppy was seventh, beaten 2 ¾ lengths in the 1 1/16-mile Tropical Park Oaks on December 20 at Gulfstream Park after running near the back of a 14-horse field.

“I thought this filly would be laying very close, and Julien just felt it, too. She got to the lead pretty easily,” Wolfson said. “Her last race was sneaky-good. She got beat [2 ¾] lengths and the rider had her 15 lengths back at the three-eighths pole. I knew she’d run good, but I didn’t know she could make the lead that early.”

Bred and owned by Arindel Farms, Pink Poppy is now 2-for-3 with Wolfson and has three wins in seven lifetime starts with $133,956 in purse earnings.

“When they came to her in the stretch, she drew away and had something left,” Wolfson said. “When you’ve got Julien, there’s nobody better on turf.”

Source: Gulfstream Park