Sophomore Stakes Featured on Holy Bull Undercard

Seven graded stakes winners are among the 130 horses nominated to four stakes supporting the $400,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull (G2) on January 24 at Gulfstream Park.

The $200,000 Forward Gal (G2) and the $100,000 Sweetest Chant (G3) for females, and the $150,000 Hutcheson (G3) and $100,000 Kitten’s Joy for males, round out five stakes for 3-year-olds worth $950,000 in purses.

Leading the nominations for the seven-furlong Forward Gal is By the Moon, winner of the Frizette (G1) and second in the Spinaway (G1) who ended her 2-year-old season finishing off the board in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) on November 1.

Pocahontas (G2) winner Cristina’s Journey also exits the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and is cross-nominated in the Sweetest Chant, scheduled for one mile on the turf. Ekati’s Phaeton is already a winner this year, taking the six-furlong Old Hat (G3) on January 3 at Gulfstream.

Based in California with trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, Seduire captured the Santa Ynez (G2) on the same day at Santa Anita to run her win streak to two races. Other stakes winners in the Forward Gal are Coco’s Wildcat, Irish Jasper, R Sassy Lass and Temper Mint Patty.

Ol’ Fashion Gal joins Cristina’s Journey as a graded stakes winner nominated to the Sweetest Chant, having taken the Jimmy Durante (G3) by a neck for her second straight win on November 29 at Del Mar.

Consumer Credit, trained by Chad Brown, has also won two straight including the Wait a While Stakes on November 29 at Gulfstream Park West. Another stakes winner over the track is Hangover Saturday, who took the Juvenile Filly Turf on November 8 and opened 2015 running second in an optional claiming allowance on New Year’s Day at Gulfstream.

Graded stakes placed Skipalute and Florida-bred Quality Rocks, and stakes winners Lutine Belle, Nicky’s Brown Miss, Red Sashay and Temper Mint Patty are also nominated.

Gulfstream Park stakes winners Barbados and Bluegrass Cat are among the 25 horses nominated to the seven-furlong Hutcheson, which served as a springboard to Wildcat Red’s multiple graded stakes-winning campaign in 2014.

Barbados, a bay son of champion sprinter Speightstown trained by Michael Tomlinson for Suzanne Stables, is on a two-race win streak including a three-length score in the six-furlong Spectacular Bid on January 3.

The Spectacular Bid came on the same card as the Mucho Macho Man, formerly the Gulfstream Park Derby, won by Bluegrass Singer. Owned by Cross Sabres Farm and trained by Marcus Vitali, the gray gelding is a son of Grade 1 winner Bluegrass Cat, runner-up in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.

Nominees Catalina Red and Dom the Bomb have each won back-to-back stakes. Catalina Red, by Munnings, took the Inaugural and Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, the latter on December 27, while Dom the Bomb captured the Sun Power and Futurity for Illinois-breds at Hawthorne.

Ready for Rye and It’s Not Me, winner of the Buffalo Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park West on November 29, ran 2-3 in the Spectacular Bid. Florida-bred Richard the Great won each of his first two starts at Gulfstream before finishing off the board in the Spectacular Bid.

Scheduled for one mile on the turf course, the Kitten’s Joy is named for the multiple graded stakes winner and champion grass horse bred and owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, who have four horses nominated to the race, two of them trained by Mike Maker: maiden winners Smokem Kitten and Task Force Glory.

Chad Brown-trained Pulpit Stakes winner Chief Kitten and maiden winner Wayward Kitten, trained by Wesley Ward, also represent the Ramseys in the Kitten’s Joy.

Another horse from the Brown barn is Night Prowler, beaten a head in the Pulpit before coming back with a half-length victory in his graded stakes debut, the 7 ½-furlong Dania Beach (G3) on January 3 at Gulfstream.

Undefeated Lemon Drop Kid colt Itsaknockout is nominated to the Kitten’s Joy off successive dirt wins at Gulfstream for trainer Todd Pletcher and Starlight Racing. Stakes winners Croninthebarbarian, third by 1 ¼ lengths in the Dania Beach, Daddy D T, Firespike, Twotwentyfive A, and graded stakes-placed Danny Boy Nutty Futty and U S Marshal are also nominated.

Source: Gulfstream Park Communications