Sandiva, Isabella Sings look to pad résumés in Marshua's River
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Gulfstream/Lauren King Photo
With both of their racing careers in the final furlong, Sandiva and Isabella Sings are looking to pad their already showy résumés with another graded score when they enter the starting gate for Saturday’s $150,000 Marshua’s River (G3) at Gulfstream Park.
Both of the accomplished turf mares are trained by Todd Pletcher. Al Shaqab Racing’s Sandiva, who has demonstrated a penchant for Gulfstream Park’s turf course, is the defending Marshua’s River’s champion, and Siena Farm’s homebred Isabella Sings tuned up for this assignment with a handy win in the My Charmer Handicap (G3) at Gulfstream Park West in November.
In what could be both their swan songs before entering the breeding shed, the Pletcher runners headline the 1 1/16-mile Marshua’s River, which drew a field of eight turf runners.
“Right now they are both scheduled to be bred this year,” said Pletcher, who has a meet-leading nine stakes wins at the current Gulfstream Park stand. “I suppose they could run their way into other plans, but we will take it a race at a time right now.”
Sandiva, a 6-year-old daughter of Footstepsinthesand, won last year’s Marshua’s River in easy fashion after playing an active role in setting the early pace. She has not won in four starts to follow, but Sandiva’s most recent effort suggests she is as sharp as ever. She finished second in the 7 1/2-furlong South Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park Dec. 17, beaten just a neck.
“I thought she ran well and just ran out of ground, but she still has the desire to do it,” Pletcher remarked.
Javier Castellano, aboard Sandiva in both the South Beach and last year’s Marshua’s River, has the mount from post 3.
While Sandiva showed speed in winning last year’s Marshua’s River, she is likely to be outpaced, at least in the early running, by her stablemate, Isabella Sings, a stone-cold front-runner.
Isabella Sings, a 5-year-old daughter of Eskendereya, led at every point of call to take the My Charmer by 1 3/4 lengths in her last start.
“Sometimes she will rate a little more kindly than other times, but she is kind of a free-running type so we just let her do her thing,” Pletcher said. “We can ration out her speed, but you can’t fight with her too much.”
Allowing Isabella Sings to “do her thing” will be jockey Edgard Zayas, who was partnered with her in the My Charmer. They will depart from post 7.
Godolphin Racing’s Dickinson, a 5-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro out of an A.P. Indy mare, will be making her turf stakes debut in the 15th running of the Marshua’s River.
The Kiaran McLaughlin-trained Dickinson didn’t make her turf debut until her ninth career start. The recent move to the grass signaled a new and potentially exciting chapter for the mare who enters the Marshua’s River 2-for-2 on the turf. She won back-to-back allowance races in the fall, including an explosive performance in her most recent race, an allowance optional claimer at Belmont Park Oct. 20.
“She really moved up on the turf and just loved it,” McLaughlin said. “You really never know with that pedigree - the bottom side is dirt and the top side is both. We took her to Parx and tried it and she ran huge. We brought her back to New York and ran her and it was another impressive race. We’ve been sitting and waiting for [the Marshua’s River], pointing to it for a couple of months, because it’s graded and we didn’t want to run her every month. She could have a really good year this year.”
John Velazquez, aboard for Dickinson’s last start, will ride from post 8.
Trainer Christophe Clement, who has won four runnings of the Marshua’s River, has entered Jump Sucker Stable’s Sea Coast. The 6-year-old, who finished a closing second to the pacesetting Isabella Sings in the My Charmer, seeks the first graded stakes win of her career.
Also entered are the Patrick Biacone-trained Elusive Million, who seeks her first North American victory; the fourth-place South Beach finisher, Seeking Treasure; Inside Out, whose latest victory was an allowance optional claimer at Pimlico in June; and the in-form Lobelia, who is making her graded stakes debut. Pletcher has entered Genre, a graded stakes winner on the dirt, as a main track only entry. Caboclo do Rio is the other MTO in the field.
Source: Gulfstream Park
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